


Conspiration

by HighlyLostCause



Category: Roswell New Mexico (TV 2019)
Genre: Alex POV, Canon Divergence, First meeting (kinda), M/M, Malex has hijacked my brain, i dont know what im doing but its fun, what if au
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-16
Updated: 2020-03-27
Packaged: 2020-05-13 00:47:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 10
Words: 37,757
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19240456
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HighlyLostCause/pseuds/HighlyLostCause
Summary: The Manes family has left Roswell during summer 2005 - after Jesse Manes has decided Alex' friends weren't good enough for him. Besides, Project Shepherd is now an official part on the US Army and he is needed in DC to run it.Thirteen years later, after a decade in the military, Alex finally gets the chance to go back to his hometown.





	1. Back to the Roots

Alex hates his job.

With a sigh, he leans in his chair and stares at the ceiling. One of the light bulb is flickering and it is freaking annoying. He doesn’t have the courage to complain for someone to fix it so he stares and lets his thoughts wander. The same question has been stuck in his mind for days. Why did he decide to take this job?

The worst part is that he knows why : because Jesse Manes doesn’t take no for an answer and, more importantly, because he is a coward, too afraid to face his dad. So there he is, stuck in a windowless room, working for his dad on some weird project. A few months ago, at the end of his enlistment period, he had introduced him to Project Shepherd and some aliens conspiracy. And because it was some kind of family’ legacy and he needed a hacker, he had decided that his son who just retired from the Air Force was the best choice.

As insane as it may sound, Jesse Manes is actually a Believer and he is afraid that aliens might invade the almighty United States of America. For him, the crash in Roswell in 1947 is very real and an invasion from space is pending.

This thought should make Alex smiles but it only manages to make him miss his old life back in Roswell. Before this fateful summer 2005 when his dad has decided that they should move to Washington DC. Life was easier back in the days : his mum was still here and his father wasn’t as much as a dick as he is today.

Now that he is thinking about it, they probably left because his father might have thought that his latest son’s sexual orientation was due to the exposure of alien stuff in the air. He was wrong, tho. Even 1.500 miles away from Roswell, Alex is still very gay and - to his father’s eyes - a failure.

He is a failure who served during ten years in the Air Force, lost a leg in the process and earned several decoration. But, whatever he does, Master Sergeant Jesse Manes will never be proud of him.

At some point, Alex has stopped trying to impress his dad. But, despite that, he seems unable to do anything unrelated to him, like his father had some kind of power on him and wasn’t ready to let him go.

A beep from the screen in front of him breaks his thoughts and Alex reconnects painfully with reality. He definitely need to find a way out of this father’s hold. Looking at the screen, he realises the machine has a lot to process and his presence is useless. That is perfect.

With a frown because his leg and his back hurt, Alex stands up and grabs the leather jacket on the chair back. The sooner he gets out of here, the sooner he will be able to take off his prosthetic and rest.

 

Alex has thought that making plans for the evening and go on a date would help him clear his mind from his job. He was terribly wrong. And now, he is bored to death. The man - Chad - is currently talking about the last documentary he has seen. Usually, Alex loves documentaries but the man manages to make them boring. Why in hell did he decide to go on a date? And with a Chad on top of that?

Right now, staring at the ceiling with the flickering light bulb is almost tempting. If he has his two legs, he would run away but with his prosthetic and his crutch he wouldn’t go very far. His only solution is to stay and listen to the monotonous voice of Chad.

“So, what about you ?”

Alex raises his head and stares at him. He has no idea of the discussion topic.

“Any siblings ?”

“Oh.” Great, the family subject. He hates this one but, at least, he hasn’t asked about his leg. With a great fake smile, he answers as vaguely as he can, hoping he would take the hint and move to something else.

“Three olders brothers.”

Chad doesn’t seem to understand. He continues on his momentum.

“House of mans, uh ? Your mum would have love to have a daughter, i guess.”

Alex is tempted for a second to tell him the truth. That his mum left when he was a kid and that his dad doesn’t consider him a man. But he doesn’t want the other to pity him so he just shrugs.

“I guess.”

“Not really chatty tonight. Did you have a bad day at work ?”

“Normal day. Yours ?”

The best way for him to avoid talking is to make the other talk. Happily, the man loves talking and starts describing his day in the most meticulous way possible. Alex prays that someone would save him for this torture. He would rather be investigating a alien conspiracy than stay there for another minutes.

His phone rings. Someone has heard his prayers. On the screen, the name J. Manes appears. He hesitates for a instant. His dad isn’t really the savior type. He is most likely calling because his son did something wrong.

“You should take that, it seems urgent.”

Alex nods and takes a deep breath before answering. His father’s voice is cold and sharp.

“Finally. I need you. Come back.”

And he hangs up. It is an order and Alex has no other choice but to go. He looks at the other man.

“Work, sorry. I have to go.”

“No problem.” He smiles. “Maybe another time ?”

Alex is already on his feet, putting his jacket on. He takes his wallet and puts some bills on the table.

“Yeah, why not.”

Once outside, he doesn’t look back and wave to grab a cab. His father is expecting him to be there quickly and he doesn’t want to know what would happen if he isn’t.

 

A few minutes later, he enters the head quarter of Project Shepherd. His father is reading some files and doesn't look at him when he starts talking.

“A new report came in tonight from Roswell. I want you to go there.”

Alex stares at him for a second. He must have mishear something. His father raises his head and aches an eyebrow. He is waiting for an answer.

"Yes, sir."

Alex can't believe his father is actually offering him to go back to his hometown, miles away from Washington DC. Sure, it is for some Project Shepherd crap but anywhere is better than his crappy desk and slow computer.

"I would go myself but a few things here still require my attention."

There is the catch. His father is only asking him because he has his hands full. Not because he thinks that Alex is the best person for this job.

"I am counting on you for doing your job correctly and proudly represents the Manes name."

Alex nods.

"I should be able to join you in a couple of weeks. Don't disappoint me."

On that, he gives him the file and leave the room. Alex has a lot of questions but he knows he can’t really ask them. Jesse Manes doesn’t like answering questions and would rather have you do what you are supposed to and then - if you are worthy enough - maybe, tell you why you did that. And Alex is definitly not worthy of answers. One thing bugs thought : why did he choose him for this assigment? He isn’t military anymore, only a consultant on Project Shepherd because his father needed someone good with computers. And even there, he didn’t needed a codebreaker like him, a simple IT engineer would have been enough to do this job. Besides, Alex is certain that he isn’t the only son recruited for Project Shepherd. He had read the few files he has enough clearance to access to and Flint is definitly involved. So, why him?

But, anyway, going back to New Mexico will allowed him to get some distance between him and his dad. With luck, he could even find a job there : his contract with the army ends in a couple of months and he has been dreaming to go back to Roswell for years now.

He sits on a chair and opens the file. He has a few hours to do some reading before his plane leaves. May as well uses them.


	2. Home Sweet Home

When his plane lands in New Mexico, it is like a big weight has been taken off his shoulders. Alex can finally breathes. His father is miles away and he is finally back where he was a child without problems. He isn’t that kid anymore but, here, at least, he can dream about a future without his father or Project Shepherd.

He galdy takes the rental car waiting for him and drives to the desert. Once he is sure he is far enough of all civilization, he pulls over and gets out to lean against the vehicle. There’s nothing around him. Only the silence and sand as far as he can tell.

Alone with his thoughts, Alex thinks of the life he left behind fourteen years ago. It feels like a lifetime. Alex was’t - and still isn’t - the best penpal. He had not really kept contact with his friends. His father hadn’t help him with that, either. He didn’t have a phone until he was able to buy himself one and the Master Sergeant wasn’t going to let him borrow the landline to gossip with Liz and Maria. And, with Kyle, it was a strange friendship. They spent time together because their fathers did but they didn’t really hang out outside from that. Though, they always had each other back.

He wonders what they are up to now. They have probably left Roswell after high school. It is for the best, he thinks, because how awkward would be to run into them after more than a decade of silence?

He stays here, watching the sky and the desert for another hour before his leg starts reminding him he shouldn’t stay up that long. Snorting, he gets back into his car. It is time to go back to Roswell. Plus, he has some business to take care before being able to enjoy his time in the town.

 

He stops in front of the Police Station. Project Shepherd has eyes and ears in Roswell and this person is a Deputy. Even if he hates him, Alex has to admit that his father is smart. Once inside, he asks for Jenna Cameron and a blond woman soon joins him in the hall. She stares at him for a second before talking.

“Wild Pony at eight. Don’t be late, i won’t be wasting any time waiting for you.”

On that, she leaves him, probably returning to whatever she was doing before he showed up. Cold and bossy. Great. Just like everyone in the Washington office. He couldn’t be lucky enough to go back to Roswell and have a nice partner, could he?

Anyway, that will let him the time to walk - or drive, depending on his leg - around the town. Somethings must have change while he was away and he doesn’t want to feel like a stranger in the town he grew up in.

He is about to leave when someone call his name. Leaning on his crutch, he turns back to face the Sheriff walking towards him, a bright smile on her lips.

“Alex Manes ! I never thought i would see you again here in Roswell.”

Kyle’s mother has always been nice to him. She was the one who clean up his and Kyle’s wounds when the two boys went on an adventure and was there for him when his own mom left him. He smiles back at her.

“I never thought i would be back.”

She laughs at his answer and nods.

“So, what brings you back here, then ?”

“Work, mostly.”

The Sheriff seems to notice his discomfort on the subject and doesn’t ask more questions. They make small talk for a few other minutes before she has to go back to work.

“I was sorry to hear about Jim.” Alex says before leaving.

“Thank you.” She smiles sadly. “I think he would have loved to see you again before ... He really liked you.”

Alex doesn’t answer and waves her goodbye as she walks back in her office. Well, the first reunion with someone who knew him as a teen wasn’t that bad. But Alex hopes there won’t be many more. He doesn’t want talk of what happened between now and then.

 

Alex has plenty of time to lose before his meeting at the Wild Pony and the town isn't that big. Walking around the city doesn't take long. Nothing meaningful has changed since he left. Roswell still feels like home. He thinks about moving back here : there is a Project Shepherd branch here so that might be possible. He just needs to convince his father that his presence is more useful in New Mexico than in the capital. Easier to say than to do but he promises himself to try.

After eating the lunch he has packed before taking the plane, Alex heads to the hospital. His leg still needs regular check-up and the sooner he deals with it the better.

A nurse makes him fill a small form before he sits to wait. A young doctor soon arrives and grabs his file. He seems to be as old as Alex. That's great : the older ones love to tell him useless anecdotes about war while the younger ones usually don't know how to act around him. Alex can hope this one won't be asking to much questions.

The more he stares at the guy, the more Alex feels like he knows him. The thin face surrounded by brown hair and beard brings back memories. Sure, when he left no one was able to grow a beard but those features are familiar.

When the doctor finally speaks, he can finally put a name of the face.

"If it isn't Alex Manes back in Roswell! I must be dreaming!"

"If it isn't typical Kyle Valenti's sarcasm!" He retorts while standing up.

His childhood friend hugs him before leading him in his office.

"You missed me so much that you had to come back?"

"Nope, didn't miss you at all. I would have send you postcard if it was the case."

Kyle elbows him. He definitely deserves that.

"I'm back for work actually."

"I see. Still in the army?"

Alex stops and looks at him. Kyle answers his silent question immediately.

"Jesse Manes comes back in town for some funds raising every year. He likes bragging on his sons, all in the Air Force, with several decorations each... I never thought he could be the proud dad type, though."

"He isn't." Alex comments with a sad smile. "And yeah, kinda."

"And I guess I can't ask questions about your work here?"

Alex nods.

"Classified, sorry."

"Don't be. I don't want to know about more weird state secrets anyway."

Before he can ask about this statement, Kyle gives him a seat and starts checking his leg. It doesn't take long and his friend accompagne him back in the hall.

"You. Me. Drinks. Tonight." He says while looking for his next patient's file. "I'll pick you up when I'm done here."

"Sound great! But do you know where to pick me?"

But Kyle has already left so he never answers the question. Alex thinks about running after him when his phones buzz.

_Manes' residence?_

So, Kyle knows. His father never sold their old house and it is probably where he stays when he visits Roswell. Alex never thought his father would have go back to Roswell but Jesse Manes is good at keeping secrets. He rolls his eyes and answer the text, smiling.

_Positive._

 

From the outside, his childhood house hasn’t change. It is exactly the same as in his memories. He enters inside and wanders in the rooms. The walls are bare and there is only the strict minimum in the living room : a couch and a small table. In the kitchen, he found some non-perishable goods, probably there since the last time his father was in Roswell. Upstair, the rooms are empty. It feels like a dead memories.

He goes out again. In the backyard, the toolshed is still there. The lock is rusted and the key is nowhere to be found. But with his crutch, Alex manages to break it. His father didn’t let him get his stuff from there so everything is as he left it.

There is still a few blankets on the dusty couch, his posters are half falling from the walls and a guitar - probably way out of tune - is sitting in a corner. This spot feels way more welcoming than the rest of the house so Alex makes up his mind pretty quickly. He drops his bag on the floor and starts to dust the place. If he has to stay in Roswell, he isn’t going to sleep on the same couch as his father.

Making the room liveable takes more time that he had imagined so Alex jumps when he hears the horn. Kyle’s voice soon follows as he leans against the door frame.

“Still in love with this old toolshed ?”

“You haven’t seen the inside of the house,” he answers while getting back on his feet. “I didn’t come back here to live in something worse than a military camp.”

Kyle snorts and they leave the Manes’ residence. During the ride, they don’t talk very much but when he pulls over in front of the Wild Pony, his friend turns to face him. His face is crossed by a wide smile.

“I may or may not have tell other people than you were back in town.”

 

When he enters the bar, a girl jumps in his arms, almost making him fell. Luckily, Alex has learned to keep his balance in any situations so he quickly steadies himself and hugs her back.

“Alex Manes! Why didn’t you keep contact? And why the hell is Valenti the first to know that you are back in town?”

“Hi Maria, nice to see you too.” He smiles as she steps back to gaze at him.

“Hi Maria?” She raises an eyebrow. “I didn’t know if you were still alive for over a decade and i only get a ‘hi Maria’? Anyway, I’m glad you are back and we are going to celebrate that. Take a table, drinks on me tonight!”

On that, she leaves him with Kyle. Alex follows him to a table where another girl is quietly sipping her bear. When she sees them coming, she stands up and hugs him fondly.

“Alex! I’m so happy to see you!”

“Feeling shared, Liz!”

“So, I’m the only you didn’t missed while you were away?” Kyle asks as he grabs a chair and sits next to him.

“Pretty much.” Alex laughs. Kyle shrugs.

“Great, really great. Next time, i will keep your return a secret.”

“There won’t be a next time, i don’t plan on leaving Roswell anymore.”

Liz is watching them, smiling. He looks at her, returning her smile when she suddenly frowns.

“Oh ... Alex ... Thank you ... for your service.” She says awkwardly. Alex can’t help but snorts.

“You know I only did this for attention, right ?”

Her mouth drops in a perfect O and the two mans are now laughing. Liz’ surprise quickly fades off and she laughs with them. Maria is quick to return with beers for everyone and she sits with them.

Alex never thought it would have that easy to be with his old friends. The conversation is casual as if they had never lost touch with each others.

Surprisingly, Liz was the only one who really left town for a decade : Kyle studied elsewhere before coming back to work here and Maria stayed to work at the bar to help her mom. Alex briefly talks about the military school where his father sent him in and his time in the Air Force. But he mostly enjoys staying quiet while the others help him catch up with the last town’s gossips.

They are finally interrupted when two people walk in. They are both in uniform and Alex recognizes Jenna Cameron from their meeting earlier. The man leans to kiss Liz who smiles and introduces him.

“Max, Alex is back !”

“Nice to see you, Alex. And this is my partner, Cam.”

She just nods and walks towards the counter. Alex grins as he shakes Max’ hand. During junior high, Liz spent hours talking about Max Evans but she never made a single move. Alex and Maria had tried to push her to do so but she always came up with a good excuse not to.

“Finally !” He laughs as Liz blushes a little.

“Told her the same thing.” Maria adds. “It was about time you two got together!”  
Alex stars to stand up and the group give him a surprised look.

“I just want another beer!” He lifts his empty bottle. “I’ll be right back.”

 

Alex joins Cam by the bar. The rest of the group is busy and doesn't seem to have notice he doesn't came back right after getting another drink. He lets her take a sip of her beer before asking the question burning his lips since he first met her.

"So, you are working with my father..."

"Kind of. Not that I want to but..." She shrugs.

Alex perfectly knows how Jesse Manes manages to make people work for him. Blackmail. And for what he has seen, the method is quit effective.

"Same."

"I thought he would had came himself, thought."

"Glad he didn't?"

"Yeah, at least, I won't be tempt to punch him in the face."

She laughs at the thought. She might have seem cold this morning, Alex realizes now it was just a facade. She was probably expecting him to be more like his dad. Alex isn't - or at least, he hopes. They continue to casually chat before she brings the reason of their meeting.

"There was a major blackout a few months ago. The power went back in the hospital first then in the entire town but no one was able to explain why. All I know is that there where a strange lightning bolt-shaped burn on the generator and Evans was on the ground when I arrived. He refused to tell me more about that..."

"So, you want to look into Max Evans?"

"Yes, I have already started. There is also his tattoo..."

Alex must have make a weird face because she stops to stare at him. He never imagined Max Evans to be the kind of guy who would get a tattoo. He tells her to continue her story with a gesture of the hand.

"Yeah, so we were interviewing a suspect and he couldn't tell anything because he apparently has no memories. He just doodled Max' tattoo. I also asked him about that but he eluded the question."

"Great, my dad has sent me here to look into Max Evans..."

Alex rolls his eyes. He was there when Max, Isobel and Michael arrived in town, years ago. He has heard the rumors about them. But he never would have think that his dad was stupid enough to believe them.

"I would love to discuss if we should do that or not but I have to get back to work." She gives him a napkin with a number scribbled on it. "Text me if you want us to continue this conversation."

On that, they go back sitting with the rest of the group. Cam and Max leave a few minutes after. Its seems to be some kind of signal because Kyle and Liz don't stay long after they are gone.

Alex stays alone with Maria, helping her cleaning the bar before closing time.

 

They have stop talking but the silence is comfortable. The front door suddenly opens, making Alex jumps. He raises an eyebrow at Maria who sighs but doesn’t look up.

“We are closed.”

“Even for me, DeLuca?”

Alex turns around to watch a man walking towards the bar, definitely not bother by Maria’s remark. His face is half hidden by a black cowboy hat but he can catch a glimpse of light brown curly hair. His all swagger screams cowboy as he leans against the counter. Alex recognize easily Michael Guerin, his attitude hasn’t really changed since middle school. Maria finally looks at her customer, smiling.

“Even for you, Guerin.”

He smirks and still grabs a bottle of beer from the stash. Before Maria can say anything, he is already drinking from it. When, he is done, he casts an glance at Alex, only becoming aware of his presence now.

“And who is your friend here?”

Maria is now also leaning against the counter and places an hand on Alex’ shoulder.

“Come on Guerin, don’t you remember Alex Manes?”

“The son of sergeant Hard-Ass?” He raises an eyebrow at him.

Alex laughs as he nods.

“Himself.”

“Didn’t you leave the town like years ago?”

Maria doesn’t let him the time to answer.

“He missed us so he had to come back !”

“Yeah, that’s perfectly right.” He smiles. “Well… I would love to stay longer to talk but …”

“No problem, I’m closing anyway.” Maria answers before she frowns. “You came with Kyle, right?”

He raises an eyebrow as she continues.

“You aren’t walking home on your own. No way. Guerin?” She turns to the other man who is finishing his beer. “I give you a six pack and you drive Alex home.”

Before Alex can say anything, Michael has agreed and is walking towards the door, the bottles in one hand as he shakes his car keys in the other. Maria pushes her friend to the exit and the way she looks at him makes him realise she won’t take no for an answer.

Alex sighs and goes out after hugging her one last time.

 

Michael is already in his truck when Alex joins him. He closes the door as he sits. The motor starts and it takes a few minutes for Alex to realize that Michael hasn’t asked where he lives and that they are definitely driving in the wrong direction.

“Where are we going?”He asks as the truck takes the road to the desert.

“I’m not in the mood for drinking alone tonight and DeLuca throwed me out so you and I are sharing this six pack.”

Alex nods. He is too tired to argue with Michael and he has always loved staying in the desert during the night. It was probably the thing he loved the most about his deployment in Iraq. After spending years in Washington DC, coming back to a desert felt right. In the capital, he would look up at night but the sky was only black. There, stars were shining just like in Roswell.

Finally, they stop not far from Foster Homestead Ranch and they sit in the back of the truck. Michael offers him a bottle and both men drink. Alex is the first to break the silence.

“So, sergeant Hard-Ass, eh?”

“You don’t seem piss I talk about your father like that.”

“I think this name suits him well. But what did he do to you to deserve it?”

Michael grins and takes another sip of beer.

“Apart from being a dick every time we met? I might have tried to break into some military facility and he caught me…”

“You what?” Alex gasps.

“Is that to much for the ears of an Air Man?” He teases. “But yeah, i did. It was a dumb idea, though. He made me regret it…”

He lifts his left hand and Alex notices it is severely damaged. He silently swallows, his eyes wide open as he witnesses marks of his father’s wrath on someone else. He is used to see it on him but never on someone else. He didn’t think it was possible for him to hate him even more. When he is finally able to speak again, words don’t come out easily.

“I’m so ... so sorry he did that to you … I never thought he would ... on other people … but, uh ... what did you tell me that?”

“I don’t know.” Michael shrugs. “It feels easier talking to you than uh … the others.”

Alex understands perfectly what he is talking about. They weren’t really close when he left. Michael was mostly hanging out with Max and Isobel while Alex was with Maria, Liz and sometimes Kyle when he wasn’t too busy fooling around with the jocks. And, as he has learnt in his time in the army, it is way easier to talk about personal problems with people who doesn’t really know him. Besides the alcohol always helps to open up.

So they just talks. About every subject they avoid with the others. No question are asked. They are simply listening to each other. Alex talks about his time in Iraq and the accident that made him lose his leg. Michael talks about the scholarship he never took and how he now regrets it. Alex talks about all the times he thought about running away to come back to Roswell. Michael talks about his worries for Isobel after her husband’s death.

At some point, Alex yawns loudly and Michael chuckles quietly.

“I think you are way past your bedtime. I’m gonna drive you home.”

When his feet touch the ground, Alex winces and curses. His leg hurts and he knows it is because he isn’t supposed to wear his prosthesis more than eight hours a day. Michael helps him to the passenger sit.

“Just take it off if that hurts.” He simply says. His face is neutral, he seems to have understand that Alex hates when people pity him for losing a limb. He lifts his hand and adds. “Sometimes, i wish i could take it off.”

Alex hesitates for a short minutes but a new stabbing pain helps him make up his mind . Michael’s presence is comforting. He doesn’t feel judged as he rolls up his pant leg. Taking off his artificial leg feels good.

A few minutes later, Michael pulls over in front of the house and helps him get to the toolshed. Before he leaves, Alex notices the small smile on Michael’s face and he raises an eyebrow.

“I may or may not have crashed there during high school... Your dad throws out me when he found out, thought.”

“I’m glad this toolshed was still a safe house for someone after I left.” Alex smiles as Michael leaves and closes the door behind him.

Alex doesn’t even bother to undress, he just grabs a blanket and falls on the couch.


	3. Alien

"So, things have been pretty wild since Liz got back, right?"

Alex lets himself fall in the booth in front of Kyle. Since he came back a few days ago, his friends haven't give him a minute of freedom. It is like they want to make up for the fourteen years where he was away. They really shouldn't but, to be honest, Alex would rather spend more time with them than working for his father so he is quick to accept all the propositions. Now, he is grabbing lunch with Kyle at the Crashdown. Tonight, he is going to have dinner with Liz, Maria and Mimi DeLuca. Hopefully, he has some hours to spare in between because his dad has already asks him if things were doing well. He has to give some scrubs if he doesn't want him to come to Roswell with the next plane. 

"Yeah, you came back at the right time to avoid all the drama." His friends nods.  
"Drama sounds way better than my work."

"You should rethink that, mate." Kyle takes a frie from the place between them and dips it his milkshake. Alex imitates him.

"You know, I thought about reaching out to you a few years ago?"  
"You missed me so much?" Alex grins.

"Not at all, actually." He smiles back. "But before he died, my dad kept repeating 'If you see the handprint, go to Manes' so yeah, I was thinking about asking you if you had any idea of what he was talking about."

"I has no idea what this is about. Did you finally figures out why he was saying that?"

Kyle doesn't answer. Alex watches him looking to Liz who is working on the other side of the dinner. He frowns but doesn't make a remark when his friend changes the discussion topic.

"I was at the sheriff station when your father called. My mom was pissed."

Alex gulps and looks through the window, worried. It wouldn't surprise him to see the Master Sergeant to appears at the corner of the street but this thought makes him shiver. Kyle must see his tension because he quickly adds. 

"Relax, she told him to go to hell. She was quit angry... I haven't seen her like that since you left town."

"Do you know what they were talking about?" 

"Not really, but she told him the Valenti family was done working for him."

"Working for him, how?" Alex raises an eyebrow. "I can hardly imagine your dad working with mine... Unless..." 

"Unless what?" 

"Hum... My dad's superpower is probably being able to find dirt on people to make them work for him..."

Again, he sees Kyle looking at Liz. There is clearly something those two are hiding but before he can asks more questions, his friend rises up and drops money on the table. 

"Sorry, my break is way over. Was nice talking with you but I have to run. See you around!" 

On that, he rushes outside. Alex sighs and pays his part before leaving. He shouldn't blame his childhood friends for not telling everything, after all, he was the one who away to more than a decade. But, his heart still stings a little at the thought of them not trusting him as much as they used to do. But now it isn't the time to think about that, he has work to do if he does want his dad to show up unannounced in Roswell.

 

Alex finally enters the HQ of Project Shepherd in Roswell. It’s an underground bunker. His dad has definitely a problem with windows. Cam follows him in and whistles as she take a look around.

“Master Sergeant Manes doesn’t do things by half, for sure.”

“Yeah, he likes showing off. Did you have time to dig up about the handprint?” 

He asks as he turns on the main the computer.

He has done some researches on his own and he is starting to believe his father isn’t lying about aliens. Alex isn’t totally convinced yet. Probably because after seeing what his father is capable of with other human beings, he doesn’t to know what he would do with people from outer space.

Cam nods and puts a file on the table.

“I saw one a few days before you came back. A man was found dead with it on the face. That’s actually why I called him.”

“And I dig in the Project Shepherd files and found that isn’t the first one. They all have been covered up, probably to avoid panic in the town…”

“So ... do you know what could be causing those marks? Because it is definitely not glitter paint.” Cam points out. “I know we are in Roswell, but I hope you have a better explanations than alien.”

Alex laughs grudgingly at her comment.

“About that…” Cam stares at him, doubtfully. “Do you know that Project Shepherd was created to investigate the crash in Roswell?”

The deputy raises her eyebrow, not convince at all. Alex couldn’t blame her for that, he wasn’t truly believing in aliens himself. But their last discoveries couldn’t be explain with sciences or logic so, he was thinking about giving his dad the benefit of the doubt.

“Kyle was the one who talked to me about the handprint and he is definitely hiding something. We should ask him what he really knows about that.”

“Valenti?”

“Yep. For what I have understood, his dad was working with mine before he died… So this is kind of Manes-Valenti legacy…” He points at the framed picture on the wall, probably taken just after the crash. “I feels bad not telling him about that…”

Cam shrugs but doesn’t seem to entirely disagree.

“And he probably won’t believe me if I told him aliens are a thing.”

 

The orders were clear when his father hangs up. He can’t talk about Project Shepherd to Kyle Valenti. Because apparently Valentis have a code which doesn’t suit an alien hunter. But Master Sergeant Hard-Ass - Alex has taken the habit to call him like that, probably because he spends way too much time with Michael Guerin - is across the country and he has already asked Kyle to meet him in front of the bunker’s entrance. Too late to change his plan. He doesn’t even know why he bothers keeping him updated and listening to the orders. Probably because he is still trying to make him proud but Alex prefers ignoring that.

Kyle arrives soon after the call ends. He parks his car next to Alex’ and his first words make Alex startle.

“Not again! Tell your dad I won’t participate in his stupid alien hunting project!”

“Oh... So you know about that...” It is Kyle’s turn to be surprised.

“Well…” He shrugs. “He tried to recruit me, months ago. And if you are talking about aliens, yeah, and I might be the reason he send you here... Sorry about that.”

“Don’t be, I really glad to me back ... but, uh ... can we go down to talk about all of that. I would rather not stand for that and uh … I’m going to need to drink if aliens are real.’

“Sure.” Kyle smiles as he opens the door. “After you.”

It only takes a few minutes for Kyle to explain Cam and Alex the whole alien situation. Basically, the crash really happen and there were survivors. They are actually living peacefully in Roswell and are definitely not threats. As he well says, they are kids they grew up with. He doesn’t mention the names of the survivors and Alex doesn’t ask. He knows that this is their secret to share. 

“Can you make sure your dad doesn’t investigate more on that?” Kyle asks when Cam has no more question. “The past few months were awful for them and they don’t need more drama right now.”

“Sure.” Alex smiles sadly. “I don’t want to know what would happen if he finds them…”

He has seen what he was capable of with his own son. Or even another human being. He definitely won’t show kindness to someone who doesn’t even come from Earth. He has tried to run away from the truth but he can’t hide anymore. His dad is a monster. He has to be stopped at all cost.

He perfectly knows it won’t be easy. Master Sergeant Hard Ass is smart and has proven to be competent to recruit people on his war. 

Alex shares his concern with the others who have arrived to the same conclusion. They will have to declare war to Jesse Manes. And they need a battle plan.

 

Alex is still processing the informations about aliens being very real and his dad being a potential threat for them when he parks in SUV in the drive-in.

Back when he was living in Roswell, he would often go in the desert with Liz, Maria and her mum to play. They could spend hours there, pretending to be scientists discovering a spaceship and its crew. The imaginary aliens they met during those expeditions were always friendly. Why would three seven-years-old kids invent mean imaginary friends, after all?

Then when he had discovered Star Trek, Alex had watched all the episodes he could. Even if the ones with a lot of action were great, his favorites were when the Enterprise crew would solve a problem peacefully, with long discussions. It was a real escape from his life. There weren’t a lot of talking in the Manes’ house. Mostly screams and punches and when no one could see, tears. At that time, Alex learned the importance of talking. He would spend time talking about anything and everything with his friends. His favorite discussions were usually with Mimi DeLuca. It made up for all the ones he couldn’t have with his father - or his brothers, for that matter.

Then, they moved to DC and he went to military school. There, talking wasn’t an option so he learned how to throw a punch to defend himself.

He learned how to talk again when he was stationed in the desert, when you couldn’t do anything else while waiting. But his closest friend died in the explosion that had cost him his leg. He hadn’t really talk before being back to Roswell and meeting Michael. He was now craving for a discussion. Kyle has given him a subject he really wanted to talk about. He has so many things in his mind and no one to talk to. 

Cam is on duty tonight and alien conspiracy theories are a bit too much for her. Kyle is the one who invited him to the drive him, actually, to take his mind off the situation. But Alex isn’t ready yet to think about anything else than aliens and conspiracies. He can’t go to Liz or Maria, they wouldn’t understand. Mimi DeLuca is in a rest home, late visits aren’t probably authorized. The Evans twins don’t really like him - they hide it well but he knows his presence makes them uncomfortable. And there is Micheal.

Michael… Who is currently tapping at the window.

“Alex, are you okay?” There is concern in his voice. “The movie is about to start.”

“Yeah, I’m fine… I guess.” He slowly gets out of the car and starts to join his friends. The cowboy nods and walks in the opposite direction, making Alex stops.

“Leaving so soon?”

“Yeah, I don’t like this one?”

“Which is?”

“The Force Awaken… Liz realised that Kyle has never seen a Star Wars movie in his life so she convinced Isobel to project one a week …”

“I don’t really like this one either.” Alex confess with a smile. “The original trilogy is the best.”

“Agreed!” Michael smiles back. “You missed it, you came back a week to late for the Return of the Jedi, tho.”

Speaking with Michael has made the questions in his head stopped roaring. After taking a deep breath, he asks him if he wants to share a sixer.

“I can’t say no to free booze.” Michael grins as they make their way to sit in his truck. “But uh… why sharing with me and not all the group?”

“Lot in my mind…” He sighs. “I don’t want them to worry about me. They uh... can be real mother hens and I don’t need that rignt now?”

“Want to talk about it?”

Alex smiles sadly at him. He really wishes he could.

“Work related, sorry…”

“Don’t be.”

Both men starts drinking in silence. In the background, they can hear the movie playing and the comments their friends are making. They seemed to be enjoying their evening.

After a few minutes of silent drinking, Alex can’t take it anymore. He puts the bottle next to him and turns to Michael.

“I can’t really go into the details but uh… I really want to talk about it.”

The cowboy nods and his smile is encouraging him to start.

“There is this thing with uh… I just learn it is very real... This isn’t a bad thing per se, it’s even great because that would mean major breakthroughs in so many fields! But, because it’s true, it’s also mean my father was right about it since the beginning. And… I don’t want him to be right… It would mean he might be right about others…” Alex sighs, trying to order his ideas before continuing. “He thinks that being different is a threat for humanity. He always saw me as weak because I like boys. God, he even thinks I wouldn’t have lost a limb if I was straight...In his eyes, I’m a threat for the Manes’ legacy in. And...and I fought so hard to prove him being different, being yourself isn’t a threat for others… He can’t be right because that would mean…”

“No.”

Michael places his hands on Alex’. He can feels his whole body shaking, tears rolling downs his cheeks. He hates being vulnerable, especially in front of others. He hates seeing pity in their eyes, listening to their hyprocrisy. But when he looks up and stares at Michael, he doesn’t find the pity or shame he is used to.

“No.” Micheal says again, his voice steady. “You, Alex Manes, are the strongest personn I know. You went through so much and you’re still standing. You aren’t weak, he didn’t and won’t never break you. You can ask any of us,” he gestures to their friends absorbed by the movie, “Master Sergeant Hard Ass is wrong about you so he’s probably wrong about a lot of other things.”

Alex can only nods. Michael smiles at him and pulls him in a hug. For the first time in his life, being vulnerable feels nice because he knows that someone will always have his back. No one will judge him for. He drops his head on Micheal’s shoulder and, for once, doesn’t hold back the tears. The other man gently strokes his back, he doesn’t seem to mind having his shirt soaked.

“Thank you.” Alex murmurs when he doesn’t feel salty water rolling down his cheeks anymore.

Micheal doesn’t let him go, his hand still on his back.

“Anytime.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry it took so long to post... Tbh, i had this chapter written since June and i totally forget about it until now :/ Chapter 4 should be coming pretty quickly (tomorrow or the day after, probably) and i hope you're enjoying the story so far ♥


	4. Falling Stars

Alex loves spending time with Michael. He also loves spending time with Maria, Liz and Kyle but he doesn’t feel totally able to be himself with them. He feels like he is wearing a mask, a mix of his old-self and the man he grew up to be but with Michael, he is truly himself. He doesn’t hide from all the horrors he has seen during the past twenty-eight years.

They doesn’t really hang out with the others and no one seems to be aware of their growing friendship. They mostly meet in the desert to talk or just stare at the sky in silence. But the silence between them is never awkward. More than once, Alex has fallen asleep in the comfortable absence of sound. He always wakes up to a grinning Michael gently stroking his hair.

So yeah, Alex loves spending time with Michael. And the more he spends time with him, the more he realises he is slowly falling for the cowboy. When he enters in the Wild Pony, he always scans the room for the golden curls. And every time he sees them, he can help but smile. When Michael realises he is being watching, he usually grins and winks at him.

Tonight, he isn’t here when Alex comes in the bar. He hugs Maria as he grabs a seat next the counter. While drinking his bear, he casually chats with her.

When she has to go and take care of others patrons, someone leans next to him.

“Guerin.” He smiles without looking at him. “Were you looking for me?”

“Yeah, my alien sixth sense told me I would find you here. Plan for tonight?”

“Nope, just drinking alone I guess.”

“What about drinking and star gazing not alone?”

Alex finally turns to face him. He glances at the cowboy, probably staring too long at his lips because Michael snaps his fingers at him. Alex blinks and pulls himself together. Trying not to think about Michael’s lips is harder than he would have thought.

“Are you asking me out on a date?” He teases, trying to make his discomfort to have been caught red-handed staring disappear.

“You wish.” Michael teases back. “But more seriously, everyone has plans for tonight and there is meteor shower…”

“Sure, I’ll come with you.”

Michael grabs his arms and leads him outside where his truck is waiting. On the back, there is a bunch of blankets and two sleeping bags. Alex raises an eyebrow as he recognizes his own. He was sure he had locked the door of the tool shed when he left.

“How did you?” He simply asks.

“I’m an alien with superpowers, remember?” He winks as he starts the engine.

“Right.” Alex laughs.”You’re an alien.”

It is now a running joke between them. Michael enjoys talking about himself as a survivor from a crash landing. And from what he knows about his childhood, Alex finds that really fitting. Michael Guerin is a real survivor, one of the bravest person he knows. 

They drive in silence until they reach their usual spot. They quickly settles in the sleeping bags and stare at the sky, waiting for the show to start.

“Do you believe in life in outer space?”

Alex shifts to be facing Michael. He takes a few seconds to think before answering his question.

“Yes. The universe is too big for Earth to be the only habitable planet.”

“And what about the Roswell crash in 47?”

“I hope it didn’t happen.”

Michael raises an eyebrow.

“And if it did happen, I hope there weren’t any survivors.” Alex elaborates. “We aren’t really welcoming to people we don’t understand. And you, you believe in them?”

“Yeah.”

Alex nods and both men moves to look at the stars. The meteor shower is starting. It is beautiful. But Alex is staring more at Michael, laying right beside him, whose face lightens at the spectacle above them. It is the most beautiful thing he has ever seen. Michael starts talking, how nice it would be to just leave Earth to explore space. Alex doesn’t understand half of the things he says but enjoys listening to his voice while slowly falling asleep.

When he wakes up, his face is buried in Michael’s chest and he can feel his arm around his waist. He stays like that, watching him sleeping peacefully, until Michael starts moving.

“Hi.”

Michael smiles. Alex really wants to kiss him right now. To touch him. To feel his curls in his hands. He takes a deep breath and slowly starts moving towards him.  
But before he can do anything, Michael sits up and runs a hand through his hair. The tension is tangible.

“Can you drive me back to the Wild Pony? I ... left my car there last night.”

“Yeah, right ... can do that.”

 

Cam and Kyle had left him an hour ago. They are slowly building their plan to overthrow Jesse Manes from Project Shepherd and totally change the purpose of the program. But Alex had decided to stay in the bunker to see if he can find a loophole in Project Shepherd to use as leverage against his father. He has been staring at the screen for ten minutes now, completely lost in his thoughts. If he was trying to forget what happen with Michael this morning, it is not working. He keeps replaying the scene in his head, trying to figure out what didn’t work. He had felt some kind of connexion between him and the curly-haired cowboy. But when he tried to make a move, he failed. And he is too proud to face Michael right now so he is trying to sink himself in work.

Suddenly, his father’s face appears on it, making him jump. But if his time in the Air Force has taught him one useful thing, it is definitely how to compose yourself and hide your emotions. So it’s a perfectly calm Alex who asks him why he is calling.

“You didn’t follow my direct order.” His voice is cold, as usual, but Alex can tell his father is angry. Hopefully, right now he can’t do anything to punish his son and that is making him even more furious.

“There were more suggestions than orders, if I may. Beside, Kyle is now working with us.”

“You shouldn’t trust him.”

“You make me in charge of the Roswell part of Project Shepherd. I’m the one making decision on who I trust and who I don’t.”

And he don’t trust his father.

“I have new information. I need you to keep an eye on Max Evans, Isobel Evans and Michael Guerin.”

“Why?” Alex can’t help but ask and he hopes his father won’t notice the fear in his voice.

“You don’t need to know. Just follow the orders.”

“I would if you weren’t asking to watch some random citizen of Roswell. We aren’t the FBI.”

His father stares blankly at him, surprised by Alex’ boldness to question every words he says. Alex has to admit that if he was talking face to face with him, he wouldn’t probably dare to speak as freely as he does know. But the screen and the kilometres between them are helping.

“They are a national security threat. They need to be under surveillance.”

“And on what information exactly?” After a few second, Alex doesn’t get an answer so he continues. “Right, I will take a look into Project Shepherd database then, before making a decision.”

He stares at his father, daring to look right into the icy blue eyes of the man.

“You are embarrassing yourself.” His father finally talks. “Those people are a threat for our country and you would rather argue about that with me rather that execute orders from your superior.”

“I’m not in the army anymore.” Alex reminds him calmly. He is amazed by his own courage at this point. “I work as a freelance on this, so you can fired me if you want. But you shouldn’t because people in Roswell trust me and will probably be more dispose to share their knowledge with me rather than you.”

Jesse Manes is probably thinking that sending his son is New Mexico wasn’t the best idea after all. But it is too late and he knows it. He knows he is slowly losing leverage on his son and it terrified him. He is a man who love controlling everything and when he doesn’t anymore, he starts making mistakes. Alex knows that too. And his face gives away his fear for a split second. He is losing this battle and he hates that so he ends the call.

Alex smiles. His father’s anger has always terrified him but he is starting to think he can use it for his own profit. Also, Jesse Manes made a terrible mistake calling him after the second meeting with Cam and Kyle. He has revealed he is monitoring the bunker but also that there is no bug. He can’t hear anything they are saying. Alex already knew there were security cameras in the building but he is now sure his dad is watching the footage. And he can also use that against him.

When he finally realises he can’t do anything right now against his dad, Alex calls Kyle to inform him of the situation.

“Your father is a real pain in the ass.” Kyle sounds pissed.

“I’m very aware.” Alex sighs. “We really need to do something. We can’t let him put some random citizens under surveillance because they might be aliens. That’s insance...”

“Isn’t Project Shepherd a military programm?”

“Yeah … but its main goal is more to monitor outer space with the NASA to find evidence of life rather than hunting down people who might be aliens without any proof.”

“I think we should warn them. The aliens. That the governement is looking for them.” Kyle is good at hiding the panick in his voice but Alex has learnt how to read emotions from his soldiers during the war. “I’m going to call them and arrange an meeting.”

“Don’t. I don’t think a military man is the best person to tell them that. They trust you so you should be the one to tell them. Text me after to keep me update.”

“Sounds perfect.”

They spend another half-hour to come up with a basic plan to keep Jesse Manes Michael, Isobel and Max. They know that if they keep informations from him, he will only come himself to Roswell. So they agree to send him lame reports every two days to keep him in the loop and hope he would get bored and drop the case.

After that, Alex decides to drop everything and clear his head.

Between the late event with his father and this morning with Michael, he can’t focuse on anything anymore. 

He couldn’t stop himself from thinking about what could have happened at dawn. He blames himself for misreading the situation and really hopes it won’t ruin their friendship. And if Michael doesn’t want anything more than being friends, he can totally live with that. It isn’t a big deal. Not at all.

“God… I’m not seventeen anymore…” He sighs. He is an adult, getting past a crush souldn’t be that hard.

To try to change his mind, he had decided to see what the UFO Emporium had become after more than a decade. Like all the children born and raised in Roswell, he had the luck to have visited the museum plenty of times. For some reasons, teachers in elementary school think that the best shcool trip ever. Even if every single kids had already been there every year since they go to school.

“Excuse-me.” A woman - a tourist, he can tell from her ‘I ♥ Roswell’ shirt - is standing in front of him. She is holding the hand of a ten-year-old boy with the same outfit. “Can you move, you’re blocking the way?”

“Hum… Right, sorry.” He quickly moves to let her and the rest of her family pass in the next part of the exhibition. Then he decides to go in a room where he knows he won’t bother anyone.

The museum is quit busy in the middle of the afternoon. The tourists are amazed by the green aliens statuess and the rocks from outer space. There is even a space ship in another part of the exhibit that you can visit. It is part of the new collection of the UFO Emporium and a fan-favourite.  
The re-opening a few weeks ago was a major event for the town, especially after the sudden murder of the owner, Grant Green. And from what Kyle had told him, the night was all. Especially for the aliens. He hadn’t go in the details of the day, because it isn’t his place. Tobe honest, Alex is glad he didn’t. He has a lot on his mind right now, he doesn’t need more alien drama.

Right now, his first priority is to find a way to stop his father from investigating the Evans and Michael. Aliens or not, they don’t need Jesse Manes watching their everymove. Besides, he knows that his father decides they are a threat, he will shoot first and ask questions never. He can’t let that happened.

After his conversation with the Master Sergeant, he had called Kyle. The doctor was busy at the hospital but they had decided to meet later and prepare a battle plan. Both men knew that keeping informations from him would only making get a plane ticket for Roswell. So, they had agreed to send some lame report every two days and see what woud happen.

They had also decided that the aliens should be warn about Project Shepherd. They had every rights to be aware of the threat. Kyle has promised to tell them before their meeting. 

He reports his attention to the framed pictures on the wall. They are familiar : Foster Ranch is supposed to be the place were the crash happened. When he was young, the owners would use this legend to gain a little more money. The ride throught the desert was a popular tourist attraction. But, from what he had hear, it had stopped years ago and the Air Force recently acquired the land.  
There is also pictures of a really young Grant Green, sometimes alone or with fellow UFO enthousiasts near the crash site. They are all smiling and holding ‘alien artifact’, as the legend reads.

The room is quiet, most tourists spend more time around the fake space ship than a bunch of old black and white photographs. He enjoys this solitude, the silence makes easier to think about all he had learned over the past weeks. One of the pictures catches his attention. It looks really familiar and he frowns. 

He knows the place. Like, really well... It is at the exact same place that Michael parks his trucks when they go in the desert to drink and star gaze. From there, you can see the whole site.

In his mind, pieces are starting to assemble.

He knows that this place feels like home for Michael.

He knows that he was found wandering in the desert with Max and Isobel.

He knows that he loves space in general and had spend hours studying it.

He knows that he dreams to visit space.

He knows that he strongly believe in aliens and in the Roswell crash.

Plus, he can guess that Jesse Manes hates Michael. For no apparent reason at first sight. 

Alex is starting to think that some rumors might be true.

And yet, when the idea crosses his mind, he rejects it. He knows he falling for the cowboy but he can’t be falling for a alien. Not when his father is planning war against people from outer space and when he is a pawn in this war. That would be way to cliché, worthy for a musical.

And his rationnal mind can’t believe this is actually happening. Maybe when he was younger, he could have imagine a scenario like that. Not anymore.

Alex is so lost in his own thoughts that he barely registers someone coming in the room. He was alone a few seconds ago, now Michael is standing in front of him. He seems nervous and is fedgeting with his hat.

“Hey. Valenti told me I could find you here… Can we talk?”

“Yeah… Sure.”

The cowboy nods and stares at him. Alex is about to tell him to talkwhen Michael kisses him. It is quick and soft and before he can register what is happening, it is over. Michael tooks a step back and is still with fidgeting with his damn black hat. But the small smile on his lips tells Alex he is quite proud of himself.

Alex doesn’t really think after that, action on instinct only.

He reaches for Michael, slides his fingers in his soft curls and pulls him for another kiss. He can feel the other man smiling against his lips before he deepens the kiss. The hat falls on the floor with a soft thud. Micheal’s hands falls on his hips, pulling him closer. They are both touching every single piece of skin they can. Alex fells his back bump the wall. He hasn’t even notice he was moving.

Micheal is now pressing his whole body against his, a leg between Alex’. He moans when his lips part and Michaels tongue finds his. If their first kiss was sweet and soft, this one is heated and needy.

Alex has forgotten all the problems he was thinking about before Michael arrives. Forgotten government conspiraries or potentially dangerous aliens. All he can think now is that Michael is kissing him. That Michael tastes like cheap alcohol and grease and that is the best thing he has ever tasted.

When they finally part for air, Alex drops his forehead against Michael’s. They are both smiling, like two teenagers. Alex can feels Michael’s breath on his face. He is really tempted to kiss him again : he doesn’t want this moment to end. Ever. But his logic wins.

“We should really talk.” Michael is the first to break the confortable silence.

“Yeah, we really should.” Alex answers before kissing him against. Just because he can.

Micheal grabs his hand and leads him outisde, to his truck.

The ride to the junk yard is silent. Silent has always been confortable between them but now Alex is aware that Michael is tense. He keeps clenching and unclenching his injured hand.

They both sit without word on the chairs outise the Airstream. It starting to become really awkward. Alex hawks and Michael rises his head, staring at him.

“So…” Alex starts. He doesn’t really know how to announce to Michael that he knows his - probably - biggest secret. But once again, the cowboy is quicker than him to break the silence.

“I know that you know. Valenti told us everything.”

“And do you know why I know?”

“Massive governmental conspiracy?”

“It can resume the situation.” He chuckles softly. “Are you mad?”

“Nah. We knew about that since you arrived in town.”

Alex shakes his head. Kyle. Kyle told them, obviously. He knows the Manes family was linked to aliens hunting : his father had already tried to recruit him in his war and showed him the bunker. He probably decided to keep an eye on him where he returned in Roswell. In the same situation, Alex would have done the same.

“So… what does make you different from uh…”

“A regular human?” Michael grins. “There is that.”

A bottle of beer floats to Alex’ hand and uncaps by itself.

“Okay, I wasn’t expecting that.” He smiles genuily. “Can you do anything else?”

“Theoretically, yeah. That the only useful thing Noah has said before being killed by Max…”

Alex raises an eyebrow. He has no idea what Michael is talking about. Hopefully, he seems to understand that.

“Oh, right… Valenti didn’t told you everything.” He quickly adds. “I hope you have time to spare because this might take the whole night.”

 

When Alex wakes up, he is in a unknown environment. But with a quick look around him, he easily remembers the events of the previous night. 

Michael has told him most of the events that happened in Roswell since Liz’ return, nearly a year back. Hearing about Isobel’s ex-husband who turned to be a psycopath body-scnatcher alien was insane. So, of course, after letting Michael finished his story, he had a million questions. The cowboy has happily answered most of them. Then, they had ended up talking about more trivials things until it was dark. At that point, Alex has thought about getting home to get some sleep but Michael had another idea in mind and who was he to say no?

That’s why he is slowing waking up in the Airstream. The bed is a bit small for two men which is why Michael is lying half on top of him, his curls tickling his chin and preventing him from moving. Alex starts drawing absently circles on the sun-kissed back of the other man as he looks around. 

His prothesis is resting near to him, within easy reach. Same for the sock. The walls are covered with equations and blueprints of a vehicle that looks like some kind of space shuttle. Though, he can’t tell exactly what it is.  
For a trailer, Alex finds it suprisingly neat. Their discarded clothes are the only mess here. He can tell Michael really likes the place if he takes care of it like that.

Speaking of the devil, he is currently shifting and raises his head to look at Alex. He can’t help but smile when he sees the sleepy look and the yawn. Michael is clearly not a morning personn. Alex doesn’t blame him : before the military school and the army, he wasn’t either. Now, sleeping late is impossible. Usually, nightmares wake him in the middle of the night. Though, now that he thinks of it, he had actually slept really well. Somehow, Michael’s presence had helped.

“Somewhere you gotta be today, private?”

“Nope.” Alex shakes his head and drops a kiss on the curly hair.

“Great. Me neither.”

On that, Michael drops his head again on Alex’ torso. Alex is definitly not moving today. But he couldn’t mind less.


	5. The Last to Know

Alex knows he has to take a break. He has been pretty busy this week. Between spending time with Michael and trying to find a way to keep his father away from him, he hadn’t had a minute for himself. But he has promised himself to finish this last thing before heading out. Plus, he had run into Maria yesterday and she had make him swear to come by the Pony to have a drink. Hopefully, it is only a matter for minutes before he can go.

While going through the files on Max, Isobel and Michael, Alex had discovered that they were under the constant watch of Project Shepherd. There were cameras hidden near their places. He didn’t know if his father had access to those videos from Washington but better safe than sorry. With the help of Kyle and Cameron, he had made a 24 hours loop for every records. Same for the bunker. Like that, even if he was watching them, his father wouldn’t have any new informations to use against them.

A familiar sound tells him that the uploading is over. He is quick to turn off the computer and locks the bunker on his way out.

 

“Hey, stranger!” Maria greets him as soon as he puts a food in her bar. “Long time no see.”

“Hey! Sorry about that I was … busy.” He quickly hugs her and takes a stool to sit. “But, I’m here now, ready to spent time with my best friend.”

She shakes her head and hands him a beer.

“Mm, not sure about that... I think Guerin is my best friend, i actually see him more than you or Liz.”

“Ouch.” Alex puts his hand on his chest. “Maria DeLuca, you have just broken my heart.”

“Well, you deserve it.” She grins. “You could have make time to come and have a drink with me.”

“Noted, ma’am.”

“So, now, tell me what is keeping you so busy lately?”

Alex shrugs.

“Is it a man?” 

He doesn’t answer that.

“Oh my god, you have found someone.” She is smiling and points at herself. “And don’t try to lie. Psychic, remember.”

“Yes, there is someone...”

“Oh, come on Alex! You don’t show up for days and then you announce me you have a boyfriend but refuse to tell me more.” She slaps his arm. “Spill.”

“Yes, Alex, tell us more about this mystery boyfriend.” Micheal adds as he takes a seat nex to him.

Alex nearly spits his beer. He wasn’t expecting Michael to be at the Pony tonight. Not at all. Maria raises an eyebrow, watching the two men.

“He knows?” She asks him, her tone full of surprise. “Before me? I’m truly hurted, Manes.”

“Well…” Alex is actually wondering how to explain to her that Michael knows because he is said boyfriend. He doesn’t even know if he can call him that, they haven’t really discuss their relationship. “I don’t know if I can call him my boyfriend.. but uh… yeah, i really like him.”

“You can definitly call him your boyfriend.” Michael adds with a wink as he tries to grab a bottle from Maria’s stash. But he isn’t quick enought to avoid the dish towel thrown in his face. He groans.

“Not nice, DeLuca!”

“Pay your tab first, Guerin.” She retorts as she takes back the bottle from his hand. “And now, go bother someone else, I have things to do.”

“Like grilling your friend?”

She is about to answer when Alex decides to intervene. He put a bill on the counter.

“I’ll pay for him.” Maria shoots him a questionning look but takes the money anyway and hands Michael his drink.

“Thanks, private. I knew I could count on you.”

“Won’t happen everytime. Now, out.”

“Bossy looks good on you.” On that, Michael stoods up to leave. “See you around!”

Maria who has been taking care of another customer comes back in front of him.

“Is it me or Guerin was totally flirting with you?”

“Hadn’t notice.” He answers as he takes a sip of his beer.

“I knew he wasn’t really your type. Though since highschool, he got kind of hot, in a sex in a truck, smells like a river, never introduce him to your mama kind of way, you know?”

“Wasn’t there in highschool but, if you say so. How was he in highschool?”

“Don’t try to change the subject, Alexander Manes!” She laughs. “Tell me more about this mystery guy now that Guerin isn’t there to bother us anymore.”

They go back to an easy conversation. He tells her a bit about the kiss in the UFO Museum but, despite her questions, he doesn’t say Michael’s name. Even if he just confirmed that they’re dating - and that makes Alex feels butterflies in his stomach - he want to keep it secret a little longer, not wanting to pop yet this little bubble of happiness. That doesn’t to seem to bother Maria, she probably thinks she will be able to worm the name out of him another day. Then, they shift on another topics easily. 

Alex feels more relax than he has been in the past fews days. He missed Maria and getting away from alien drama is exactly what he needed.

Somehow, thinking about that makes his phone vibrates next to his hand on the counter. So much for avoiding alien problems.

_Liz : Can you come by Max’ tomorrow, around 10am? We need to talk._

“Something important?” Maria asks, concern written on her face.

“Nope. Just Liz who wants to talk, but that can definitly wait : I’m all yours tonight.”

“I haven’t seen her in a while, though. If you see her, can you remind him that she isn’t allowed to avoid her best friend now that she is back in town?”

“Sure, can do.”

 

An hour or so later, he parks his car in the junkyard. Sitting on a chair outside his trailer, Michael lifts his eyes when he cuts off the engine.

“How was the evening?”

“Good, actually.” He answers as he plops on his lap. “But it isn’t over yet and…” He kisses him. “I would love to spend some time with my boyfriend, you know?”

“I’m sure I can make some time to be with my boyfriend.” Michael answers, smiling as he pulls him for another - way more heated - kiss.

 

Michael groans when Alex’ alarm goes off, making Alex smiles. He has been awake for a couple hours, he thinks, waiting for him to wake up. Though, to be honest he had thought Michael would be up before nine. But he probably needed the sleep so he had let him be. Plus, he enjoys lazy morning like this and watching his sleeping boyfriend - the word still makes him feel so happy. He looks so peaceful like that, it makes Alex regrets putting his alarm in the first place. It’s not like he could have been still sleeping at nine.

“Why?” He whines, not even bothering to open his eyes.

“I have to be at Max’ at ten and it’s already nine, you know.”

“Oh, yeah… that. I don’t understand people who actually does things in the morning.”

“Don’t you have to work on the morning?” Alex asks as he starts putting his prothesis on.

“People around here are lazy, Alex. Plus, Sanders like to have his evening so he usually takes the morning shift.” Michael sits and rubs his eyes.

“You don’t have to get up for that, you know. I can go on my own if you rather stays here to get some more sleep.”

“Nah. I’m awake and I would actually rather not having Is trying to melt your brain or Max being … Max.” He chuckles lightly but Alex can tells he is nervous for him to meet his family. “I’m coming with you.”

 

At ten, they parks in front of Max’ huge house. If he is living here alone with Liz, Alex wonders why he needs such a big place.

“Books.” Michael tells him. “The more walls you have, the more books you can own.”

They don’t even have to knock on the door : Liz opens it as if she was watching them since she heard the truck on the gravel. Knowing her and how she is currently chewing nervously her lips, Alex is pretty sure she did.

But she still greets them with a hug and they made their way to the living room. Kyle is already there and he seems in a deep conversation with Max. Both men don’t notice their presence until Liz coughs. Immediatly, Max rises to greet them.

“Hi. Uh… make yourself confortable.” He points the couch. “Is isn’t there yet so uh… we should probably wait for her anyway…”

“I still don’t understand how you can recite poetry to Liz and yet, talk like that sometines.” Kyle remarks with a grin : he earns a pillow in the face from Liz. “Oh, you can admit your husband is …”

“He isn’t my husband.” She crosses her arms. “Can you stop with that?”

“Yet.” Michael is also grinning. “He has his mariage vows and speechs for the fifty anniversaries written since high school.”

“No, I don’t.” Max is red now and Alex can’t help but snorts.

“Liz has her since junior high.” He adds. “Nothing to be ashamed about, though.”

“Alex! I thought you were on my side.” He easily doges the pillow that hits Michael instead.

“Ortecho!”

They keep bantering for the next minutes, teasing Max and Liz. Until Isobel Evans walks into the room. The way she is standing can only inspires respect and everyone goes quiet when she glances at them. If Michael hadn’t told him how hard the past months were for her, Alex wouldn’t have think she was a trauma-survivor. He admires her for holding her head high after that. Finally, her eyes lands on him and he swallows.

“Alex Manes, we finally meet.” She smiles. “And now, we can have a real talk.”

 

They spent hours talking. Everyone has questions and they are trying to answer them. After all, they are all in the same side : trying to prevent Jesse Manes from finding things he can use against Max, Isobel and Michael. And the rest of them as well, but the aliens are their main priorities.

Alex is sitting in the couch, next to Kyle. Isobel is facing them, sitting like a queen in her throne. He is no longer indimitated by her and from everyone’s else impress looks, he can tell they aren’t use to someone standing up to her. Liz and Max has left to go grab food for all of them at the Crashdown while Michael is busy in the kitchen - probably looking for alcohol. Alex certainly can use a drink right now.

“I hope this wasn’t too much for you.” Is says, even if she doesn’t seem sorry at all about questionning during their whole interaction.

“Been through worst.” He shrugs. “But I hope you didn’t enjoy that to much because it isn’t going to happen again.”

She raises an eyebrow, slowly staring at him, before grinning.

“No afraid to speak your mind, I see.” She stands up, heading to the kitchen. “Michael, where did you find him? I like him.”

Alex can hear the cowboy sighs that this is none of her goddam business and he smiles. He had known Isobel for less than a day but he is certain she won’t drop the subject like that. Next to him, Kyle shifts to face him.

“So… that went well.”

“What where you expecting?” He smirks. “We all are adults and civilized people, what could have possibly gone wrong?”

“Oh, I don’t know: Is going in your mind to make you something you would do otherwise.”

From the other room, the answer is shouted lood and clear.

“Get over it, Valenti! Not my fault if you’re too weak to resist!”

“What did she do?” Alex asks.

“She made him take off his shirt and flex his arms in the middle of the street...” Michael is clearly laughing from the memory. “While he was trying to score with a nice nurse from the hospital.”

Alex laughs at the idea of Kyle showing off in the middle of Roswell. He earns a slap on the shoulder for that. 

“It isn’t no fun.” He grumbles. “She ruined everything.”

“Poor boy.” Isobel is back in the living room, a glass of wine in her hand. At that moment, Max and Liz come back, their arms fulls with their orders.

“What are you guys talking about?” She asks as she takes off her coat and flops down on an armchair.

“The time where Is praticed her powers on Kyle.”

“Which one?”

“So, there are more stories like that?” Alex is now very interested to hearing those and Kyle’s glare makes him laugh. “Oh, come on! I’ve been falling at my duty from best friend for years, let me make it up to you now.”

“Want to go down that road, Manes?” Kyle is smiling now, he definitly has something in the back of his back from the way he is grinning. “Want to talk about how you and…”

A flying cushion shuts him up. The doctor pushs it aside.

“That’s not fair, Guerin. You sure you don’t want to hear about ...”

The cushion attacks him again, making everyone laugh. Kyle get ride of it, opens his mouth and closes it when it starts to rise again from the floor. Alex knows he won’t be able to escape this discussion forever but he really wish he could. But Kyle wisely decides to drop the subject and starts asking Liz about her next project in the hospital.

 

They are halfway through their lunch when Maria interrups them, looking for Liz. Everything could have gone smoothly if she had waited a few more seconds before pushing the doors. But no, when she walks in, Michael is making bottles of beer float from the kitchen. He stares at her for a split second before a loud noice makes everyone jump with surprise. A quick glance behind his shoulder informs Alex that the bottles are now on the floor, all broken and that fresh beer is soaking the floor.

“Hey.” Maria finally speaks, breaking the unconfortable silence, and turns to Liz. “Remenber the flower on my necklace… My mom was talking about it and uh… I hoped you could tell me what you had found about it…”

“Yeah… Sure.” Liz doesn’t seem to be able to process what is happening right now. Her eyes keep moving back and forth between her best friend and Max. Who, to be honest, seems as shocked as her. Like the rest of them.

Alex is the first one to react. He stands up and gently tugs Maria outside. She doesn’t protest and follows him.

“What was that?” She turns to face him as he closes the door behind them. “What just fucking happen?”

Alex puts a hand in his hair. He can’t really explain her what she just saw and even if he could, it isn’t his secret to tell. He sighs as she asks her question a second time.

“What do you think just happen?”

“I don’t fucking know, Alex! There were beers floating in the air.” She makes large movements with her arms as she speaks. “Beers. Floating.”

Taking a deep breath, she looks at him.

“You don’t even seem shocked by that. No one you were. How come?”

“Well… It is kind of a long story…”

“I bet.” She grins.

“But …” He doesn’t know what to say next. He can’t find a reasonnable thing to say. After all, the truth is insane.

“Uh...” Alex turns. Michael is standing in the doorframe, fidgeting. “Aliens are real. But Will Smith doesn’t have to worry, we aren’t trying to invade Earth. Surprise?”

The cowboy motions them to come inside. Alex is about to go when he remarks that Maria isn’t moving. Her face breaks and he can

“That isn’t funny, Guerin.” Her voice is a bit shaking. Michael seems to realise something as he rushs towards them, placing his hands on her shoulders.

“No, no, no, sorry. I shouldn’t have said that like that…” He hugs her tighly and Alex can’t help but smile. He is definitly falling way too fast and too deep for the cowboy. “I’m so sorry… I forget about your mum and…”

“Can you…” She gets out of Michael’s embrace. “That’s enough of hugs for the rest of the year, Guerin! And we’re going to have a very long conversation about that.”

“I’m sorry.” He repeats.

“Don’t worry about that.” She shushes him before he can protest. “Really don’t. And if I don’t want to be late to open the bar, you should start answering my questions now.”

She tugs him inside and Alex follows them, smiling. He who thought he could have - at least - half of a day without an alien-centered conversation, he is served. 

 

“For how long have you known?” Maria asks.

They are both in her red truck, driving towards the Pony. Hopefully, the conversation wasn’t as long as the one he had this morning because they didn’t had to discuss all about Project Shepherd but it still lasted a couple hours.

“Last week.”

“Really?”

“Well, to be precise, my father makes me come back here to investigate aliens but I didn’t believe him until last week.”

“When Museum Guy kissed you.”

“Uh… yes, you can say that.”

“I can’t wait for you to tell me who he is, though, I have an idea now…” She turns her head to face him, a cocky smile on her lips. “You really didn’t realise he was hot, did you?”

Alex doesn’t know how to respond to that. But his phone starts ringing. First, he thinks about not answering but he quickly changes his mind when he sees the caller’s name. She never calls him. Cam never calls him.

“Alex?” Her voice seemed unsure. He can help but think that something dreadful just happen. “I just hear from the Master Sergeant. He is coming to Roswell.”

His heart skips a beat. He feels suddenly vert cold. It can’t be possible. He takes a deep breath to stop the panick attack that he fells rising.

“When?” 

“We have one week.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry it tooks to long :$ Tbh, i had finished writing this a long time ago and totally forgot about it ._. Anyway, I finished writing the fic (thanks to the quarantine XD) and should be able to post the rest soon ^u^


	6. Headquarters

He is sitting in a booth in the Crashdown, Kyle in front of him. Food is placed on the table between them but they can't eat. They are still processing what Alex just announced. Jesse Manes is coming back in Roswell, fully ready to eradicate aliens on Earth once and for all. He probably will also try to kill his son but that isn't no longer Alex' main preoccupation. He used to be afraid for himself. Now, he is afraid for someone else and that is way worse.

Kyle finally breaks the silence.

"If he is coming back, you have to leave the tool-shed."

Alex raises a questioning eyebrow. What the hell is Valenti talking about? Shouldn't they be making a plan to fight back?

"You can't stay in a place where he can easily find you and…"

"I'm not afraid of him."

He is scared of what could happen to Michael if he learns about their relationship. He couldn't care less of what could happen to him as long as he is able to protect Michael.

"I know that. But, I think everyone would be way more comfortable with you staying away from him…"

"So, you have already make a decision with everyone else and I just have to agree with you?" Alex sighs. "You are worse than an army of mother hens..."

"And you can't say no." Kyle smirks. "I'm just the emissary here and I'm not ready for Liz to murder me. Or Guerin, for that matter."

Alex nods and dips a French fry in his milkshake.

"I don't have another place to stay, tho."

"Don't worry, I know the perfect place. Remember the hunting cabin?"

“Yeah, why?”

“In his will, my dad has left for us both and since I’ve already got a place, I thought you could use it. Besides, it’s far more comfortable than this tool-shed of yours.”

Alex sighs again because Kyle gets a point. Even if he loves this place and feels more at home inside than in the real house, he wakes up every morning with his whole body sore. Besides, the idea of having a real bed is really tempting.

“Fine. I’ll take it.”

“Perfect!” Kyle smiles. “Your stuff is already there, so as soon as we are finished, we can go and get you settle.”

“God… There was really no way you would have let me stay in the tool-shed…”

He can’t help but smile. It definitely feels good to know that a few people genuinely care about him.

Kyle is excited and he soon starts to steal Alex’ fries to “speed up the things” as he explains.

Half an hour later, Kyle parks his car in front of the cabin. Alex notices his SUV is already there and he can hear two people talking through the open door. As he steps inside, he isn’t surprised to see that most of his things is already there. His friend wasn’t liying.

Liz and Michael are leaning against the counter, lost in their discussion.

“Look who I’ve found!” Kyle enters behind him and claps his shoulders.

“Alex!” Liz is quick to hug him and he gladly returns her embrace.

Michael doesn’t move: he just smirks and tips his hat at him.

Alex moves to get closer to him but as he does, a box catches his attention. He opens it and pulls a fill out. Reading him, he can easily recognize that it comes from the Project Shepherd’s bunker. He turns to Kyle, eyebrow raised.

“Why is that there?”

“Well, if your father’s back, he’ll probably want his bunker back. So we have taken everything he shouldn’t see and …”

“But, he knows about this place and it won’t take him long to figure out I’m staying here.”

“He doesn’t really know the place.” Kyle smiles proudly as he turns to Michael. “Can you?”

The cowboy winks and the coffee table starts to move on her own volition. Alex smiles: he loves watching him using his powers but that doesn’t last. He frowns when he sees the trap on the floor. It also opens all by itself.

“What?!” He looks incredulously at his friends.

“Long short story, there is a bunker under the cabin and my dad set it up to help Rosa get clean …”

“She’s his daughter.” Liz interrupts when she sees his lost look. “He had an affair with my mom…”

Alex just stares at his two childhood friends, trying to process the new information.

“I really missed a lot…” He finally says with a chuckle.

“Yeah, but it’s cool you’re back!” Liz pulls him for another hug.

“Right.” He smiles at her. “But why did you show me that?”

“Well, first, I didn’t want you to freak out if you had found it by yourself.” Kyle falls into the couch, gesturing to the trap. “And your dad probably doesn’t know about it so it’s the best place to plan this little rebellion of yours.”

“You really thought of everything of everything before asking me to move here, didn’t you?”

Liz chuckles at his question and nods.

“So, let’s get to work now that you know everything.”

They spend the next hours installing their new HQ in the bunker below the cabin. Or, more accurately, Michael moves all the box down while Liz and Kyle order them in the secret room. Alex is just sitting in the couch and occasionally makes a remark. Because he has “a lot on his mind lately” and has “spend too much time standing the previous days”, he isn’t allowed to help them.

“Doctor’s orders.” Kyle has joked.

“Plus, we got this!” Liz has reassured him after he had asked to the tenth time if there is anything he can do to help. Even if they talk during the whole process, planning their battle plan against Jesse Manes, he is a bit bored.

When everything is done, Alex offers them to stay but Liz and Kyle decline politely. Kyle has an early shift tomorrow and he needs to sleep; Liz already has plan with Max. That leaves him alone with Michael. The cowboy has picked up his hat from the counter when Alex finally talks.

“Want to stay?”

Michael slowly walks until he is in Alex’ personnel space and places his arms on Alex’ shoulders.

“Thought you would never ask.” He answers before kissing him.

Alex happily returns the kiss. When they pull back, they are both grinning like teenagers.

“I have a real bed now, you know.”

“Oh, I’m well aware of that.”

With these words, he kissed him again and they make their way to the bedroom.

 

“Are you sure you don’t mind if we use the Pony to…”

“Damnit Alex, it’s the third time you’re asking me this. My answer is still the same as it was five minutes ago, no, I don’t mind at all.” Maria sighs. “Now help me with this.”

She gestures towards a table and Alex quickly moves to grab the other side of the furniture. When they put it down, they now have a table big enough for all of them to sit around. After telling him to take care of the chairs, Maria returns in the back where she probably has things to do.

Alex is definitely impress by how calm she is with the whole alien thing. Two days ago, her world was turn upside down and she had learn that Roswell’s legend was actually very real. And now, there she was, ready to help them without any questions. He knows that she has always been a loyal friend but if his best friend has returned a year ago and uncovered a huge secret but not telling him about it, he would have probably be a little more pissed right now.

And Alex knows his reaction about the revelation would have been more important if he wasn’t excited by the fact that his crush had made the first move. His brain was to focus on trying to making sure he wasn’t dreaming about the kiss in the UFO Emporium to be shocked to know about aliens. In a way, he was glad for that.

“You know none of us is Guerin so those chairs won’t move all by themselves.” Maria has returned from the back and is leaning on the counter. “And the others will be there soon.”

“Um… yeah, sorry.” Alex smiles as he grabs a chair. “I have a lot in my mind.”

“Yeah, I can sense that. But don’t worry too much, you’ll have wrinkles.”

“I have a cream for that if you need it.” Isobel says as she enters in the bar. She puts a picnic basket on the table before turning towards them. “Michael’s on his way, Max and Jenna are picking Kyle and Liz at the hospital. They should be there any minutes by now.”

“Great. We have a lot to discuss.”

As Isobel has announced, the others arrived quickly after her and they started to dress a battle plan against Jesse Manes. Alex has told everyone about the fact that his father has been monitoring them for years and the 24h loops he created for each cameras but, after inspecting more the bunker system, he has discovered that everything was outdated. You had to be on place to access the footage.

“That’s why he kept coming back every few months!” Kyle suddenly exclaims. “I was wondering why the house seems abandoned except from a few days every now and then.”

“Yes, he was probably coming back to see if he had enough against any of you.” Alex adds, looking at the three aliens. “From what I have seen, he doesn’t have much. The only unusual thing is maybe Michael’s bottles of beer always landing in the bin when he throws them.”

Max glances a look at the cowboy who just shrugs.

“Years of practice, I never miss.”

“Anyway, if he is back in town, he will probably spend more times watching you. So, the loops won’t be enough.”

“Why?” Isobel raises her eyes from her perfectly polished nails she has been inspecting for the past few minutes.

“Unfortunately for us, he isn’t stupid. And if he has been trying to frame you for the past years, he will easily remarks that.” Alex sighs. “But, we have a few ideas.”

He pulls blueprints out of his back and put them on the table. There is one for Isobel’s, one for Max’ and a sketch for the scrapyard.

“We can keep the loops for some on them.” He points at crosses on the papers, indicating the places of every cameras. “But for the ones filming the front doors, we can’t or he will figure out something not right pretty quickly.”

“What should we do then?” Max asks, leaning to watch the drawings.

“Well, you aren’t supposed to know you are under surveillance so if you decide to put new bushes in your yard, he can’t blame you.”

“And the scrapyard?”

“I’ll just park a car that will sadly hide what is happening there.” Michael shrugs. “And change it every few days so Master Sergeant Hard Ass won’t get to suspicious.”

Alex nods. He and Michael had already discuss this part but they had decided to share it with Max and Isobel.

“I have already put in virus on the bunker database. Everything about you will be erase the moment he logs in. He doesn’t seem to have back up on site, so we should be good.”

“And some of the paper files are already at Alex’s place.” Kyle adds. “We didn’t have the time to go through all of them but we have taken the one about you three.”

“So, we are all good now?” Maria wonders. “Only the three of them were under surveillance?”

“For what we have seen, yes. But he probably knows that Michael spent a lot of time in your bar or about Liz and Max. So, you’ll have to be more careful when he is back: he doesn’t play nicely with the one he considers enemies.”

“So… he might try to kill us?” Kyle seems to panic a bit.

“Won’t probably go that far. But threats and blackmailing are part of his arsenal.”

Cam who had been silent during the whole conversation opens her mouth for the first time. Her voice doesn’t hide her hate for Jesse Manes.

“That’s how he manages to make me to work for him. The man has more resources than it seems.”

True to herself, Liz is curious and asks her about the leverage Jesse has on her.

“My sister is in a military prison. I haven’t seen her in years and he is making it even more complicated now because I stopped reporting to him after Alex arrived in town.”

“Sorry about that.” He says sadly. “I wish I could do…”

“Don’t.” She cuts him short. “I just hope I make the right choice.”

He understand she doesn’t to talk about that anymore and quickly changes the subject.

“So, we still have one more issue.”

Every faces turn to him. They all have questions.

“Project Shepherd was transferred in DC back in 2005, so the main servers are there...”

“People in Washington knows about us? And you didn’t think about mention it before?” Isobel points an accusing finger at him. If looks could kill, he would be stone dead right now.

“Is.” Michael sighs while Max does nothing to resonate his twin sister. “How could he knows that aliens were real? Besides, Project Shepherd is a known branch of the military.” He turns to Alex. “Though, they seem to focus more on watching space?”

“That’s right.” He nods. “The Roswell branch is the only one who monitor real people, from what I know. And I haven’t even heard of it before my father send me.” That doesn’t seem to reassure Isobel but he continues. “And even if people in the capital city are more open about some ideas, they still think the crash is a tale.”

“What was your job there?”

“Making sure neither Russia nor China were the first one to discover life in outer space. So, mostly hacking systems.”

“So you can hack into Project Shepherd database and destroy the files.”

“That’s the plan. The only problem is that I have to be on site. I’ll wait until my dad gets here to leave and take care of that.”

 

A few days later, he is in the bunker when he hears a car parks. It can only be one person. He doesn’t have to wait very long before his father enters in the building. He greets him with a small nod and sends a text to Kyle to ask him to come pick him up.

“Alex.” His voice seems colder than usual. “I wasn’t expecting to find you here.”

“I had some work to do.” He reminds himself to stay calm. Now isn’t the time to piss of the Master Sergeant because he has a plane to catch in a few hours. “But I have nearly finish, so I won’t be bothering you any longer.”

His father doesn’t deign to answer and sits in front of the main desk. As if it was waiting for him to say that, his computer makes a noise indicating the uploading is completed. In a few minutes, the moment his father logs in, all the database will only be on the device.

He quickly packs his things and goes out. Hopefully, Kyle is already here and he hops in the vehicle. He will be long gone the moment Master Sergeant Hard Ass discovers all his work from the previous years is gone.

When their plane lands, Kyle and Alex take a cab to Alex’s condo. That makes him think he should probably sell it if he plans to spend the rest of his life in New Mexico. On his phone, he has more missed calls from his father and a text from Michael. He only answers this one.

It was hard to explain to Michael that he couldn’t come with him. With Jesse Manes in town, leaving would have been suspicious, especially because he had never left Roswell before. Besides, he hadn’t any ID papers apart from his driving license. Even if Alex would have love to take a trip with the cowboy, it wasn’t possible right now. Once the danger was over. He just had to wait a little longer. But Michael had only agreed to let him go if he wasn’t alone, so Kyle had decided to take some days off.

When they arrive at the condo, Kyle drops his bag on the floor and let himself falls on the couch with a groan.

“Don’t wake me before sunrise.”

Alex smiles and makes his way to his own bedroom. He was hoping to get some sleep before the busy day ahead of them.

When Kyle wakes up, he is already in the kitchen, sipping his second cup of coffee. He barely looks up from his computer.

“Did you even try to sleep?” His friends asks as he rubs in eyes and sits on the couch. “Thanks.” He grabs the cup Alex is handing.

“Yeah… I was probably asleep for an hour or two.”

He shrugs. He doesn’t even feel that tired, even though he hasn’t slept much and spent the next hour in his bed, lost in his thoughts. Thinking about everyone there – especially Michael and his siblings – defenceless against his father doesn’t help to find sleep after a nightmare. He just wants to get the job done as soon as he can and take the first flight back to Roswell.

“Man, you need to rest.” Kyle sighs. “It won’t help anyone if you die from exhaustion.”

“I’ll sleep when it’s over.”

“They all say that…” The doctor rises from where he is sitting to go refill his cup and grab a toast. His movements are slow and not really precise, miles away from what he does during surgeries. He would have probably slept another few hours if it wasn’t for Alex, making noise in his tiny kitchen.

“Besides, we have work to do. The building starts to be at 0800, so we should get going now if we don’t want any trouble getting past securities.”

“Right, you’re pretty stubborn when you want. I forget about that.” Kyle chuckles. But he still puts his coffee down and heads to the bathroom. “Let me just take a quick shower and change.”

When the cab drops them a block away from the Project Shepherd headquarter, Alex shifts automatically to soldier mode. He can feel the excitement of a mission well prepared bubbling under his skin. He is determined to get everything done when he walks inside, Kyle right behind him.

The man at the front desk raises his head from his phone when he stops in front of him. He seems confused for a short minutes but quickly opens the door after scanning Alex’ access badge. A false recommendation letter from his dad is enough for him and he lets Kyle in.

As he was expecting, there isn’t a soul in the building at this hour. Even if this is a military branch, when you work behind a desk, you don’t need to wake up at dawn. This probably explains why the watchman was surprised to see him at this hour. When they are in the elevators, Kyle breaks the silence between them.

“What now?”

“The servers’ room is down.” Alex answers as he press a few buttons. “But this get tricky now. I don’t have enough clearance to access it so I need you to watch my back while I break into the system.”

“I thought you were Captain or something, should you have clearance for that?”

Alex let a dry laugh out. He wishes he was still Captain, he would be outranking his father and could easily take him off Project Shepherd. But things couldn’t be that easy.

“I left the Air Force after…” He gestures at his leg. “And I starts working on my own, installing security systems for small companies, before he reaches out for me and brings me into all of this. I’m some kind of consultant, or something.”

“Oh. I didn’t know.”

“I didn’t tell. I was happy, out of the military and away from his reach so…”

Truth be told, he was a bit ashamed that at nearly thirty, he was still so afraid of his father, he hadn’t be able to tell him no. He just had to raise a bit his voice and Alex wasn’t the seasoned vet anymore but the small kid, afraid of what might happened if he dares disobey an order.

“Yeah, I see.” Kyle seems to have sense his discomfort. The elevator stops and the doors open, reviling a long hallway. “It’s our stop, isn’t it?”

“Yeah.” Alex picks up his duffle bag from the floor and starts heading to the door on the right, the one leading to the emergency staircase. There isn’t any cameras here, a big mistake according to him, but he won’t complain about it. But the building wasn’t meant to host a branch of the military and the people who decided to put the whole service here were probably sloppy. Because the idea government looking for aliens is ridiculous. Of all the people working here, probably only ten really believe in a possible invasion from outer space. The others were here because it was well payed, with a nice schedule and not dangerous at all.

While Kyle is making sure no one is coming their way, Alex plugs his computer into the security system of the buildings. He doesn’t need much time to deactivate the electro-magnetic lock of the servers’ room door.

He takes a walkie-talkie out of his bag and hands to Kyle.

“Here, you have access to the cameras of the floor to make sure no one is coming.” He shows the screen. “And here is the switch for the door. Lock it back when I’m in.”

His friend nods and he quickly makes his way to the room. He knows exactly what he is looking for when he finally log into the system. It doesn’t take long to find out that there isn’t much. Practically nothing about Roswell and the three local aliens. All the files are old, from before 2010. That is weird but he still copies each and every one of them on his computer before deleting the originals.

He is about to get going when Kyle’ voice crackles on his radio.

“Someone is coming your way. Stay put.”

Everything couldn’t have gone smoothly till the end, it was probably too much to ask for. But he stays where he is and decides to use this time to poke around a bit more. At first, he doesn’t find anything interesting. But an encrypted file catches his attention. He has read the name _Caulfield_ before, when he was going through his father’s files in Roswell. The file is heavy and the copy isn’t over yet when Kyle tells him the way is clear.

“I need a few more minutes and we can get the hell out of here.”

As promised, ten minutes later, they are in a cab, on their way back to the condo. Before leaving, Alex had implanted in the system an electrical problem in the building that would delete all the data since the last back-up, at 0400. The footage of him and Kyle here would be lost forever. People should really be more careful about cyber security.

“Did you find anything interesting?”

“Not really. There weren’t any files after 2008. As if everything my dad was doing in Roswell hasn’t been recorded here.”

“That’s not normal, isn’t?”

“Not at all.” Alex shakes his head. The adrenaline is wearing off and he feels a bit sleepy. “And there was also something about Caulfield. Ring any bell?”

Kyle is thoughtful for a minute before he answers his question.

“It sound familiar but I don’t know where I heard it. And you?”

“I have read this name in the bunker’s files but I have no idea what it refers to. I will dig when we are back.”

“Sure. But after you slept for a few hours in a real bed.” Kyle smiles when he grumbles. “Don’t be like that, I’m sure you’re dreaming of a comfortable pillow and a curly-haired…”

Alex elbows Kyle who starts laughing.

“You’re so touchy about that, it’s hilarious.” He avoids another attack, a wide smile spread on his lips. “Anyway, when can we get back in Roswell? I’m sure you’re dying to…”

“There’s a plane in a couple hour. We would be back for dinner.” Alex answers quickly the question before Kyle can make another comment about Michael. His best friend seems to understand and drops the subject, but if the light in his eyes is any indication, he will probably pick it up later. If he just could wait for Alex to take his father far away from Michael and his siblings, that would be great.


	7. Good News

Alex is lost in the numerous files of Project Shepherd when he hears the cabin’s door opening. Soon after, someone climbs down the ladder of the bunker and sits in the couch, behind him.

“Did you stay here all day?” Michael asks.

“No, I had lunch with Liz and Maria at the Crashdown.” Alex turns his chair to face the curly-haired alien. “I have been back for only two hours.”

“How long was your lunch?”

“I don’t know, to be honest.” He chuckles. “But you know that when they want, they can be really chatty. And we have plans with Mimi tomorrow, so I’ll take a day-off. Happy?”

“Really.” Michael smiles and leans in for a kiss. Alex doesn’t protest, happy to kiss him back.

But too soon, Michael is pulling away and turns towards the wall behind him. He seems lost in thoughts. Alex knows better than to disturb him, but he wishes they could have kept making out.

So, while waiting for Michael to reconnect with the reality, he lets his eyes wander around the room. He is really glad that Kyle and Liz had help him redecorate it to make it less creepy. Painting the walls with a light beige and buying better light bulbs has been a necessary first step. With Isobel getting rid of everything in her house – a reminder of her life with Noah, Michael had found a desk and a couch to put the room. They had burnt the bed: the wood was dry and has been perfect to warm the cabin in the evening.  
Now, the whole room is filled with Project Shepherd related files. Some of them are in the closet but most are just piling up on the floor. Alex isn’t a big fan of the mess but finding the best way to store them isn’t his first priority. Probably not even in the top ten.

“Can I break the wall?”

Michael’s strange questions pulls him out of his thoughts. The alien isn’t looking at him, still facing the wall. Not moving, he asks again.

“Can I break the wall?”

“Hum… Why?”

“I can feel something, I think… Like… I don’t know… It is calling me…”

“More alien stuff?” Alex can’t help but sighs.

The cowboy finally turns, a small smile on his lips.

“Tired of alien stuff?”

“Not all of it, obviously.” He leans to quickly kiss Michael. “But yeah, I can’t wait for all of this drama to be over.” He gestures to the files filling the room.

“Me too. So, can I break the wall?”

Alex shrugs. He doesn’t really care about the underground bunker in Jim Valenti’s old hunting cabin and if this new alien thing can help them, well, at least that is something.

He barely has the time to agree that Michael is already up and walking towards the wall. He stops when he reach it and put his hand on it, right where the sun-shaped hole in the lampshade lightens it. The pattern looks exactly like the one on the keyring Kyle gave him and Alex feels a bit stupid for not noticing that earlier.

Michael looks at him again and Alex nods. With his approbation, the alien focuses and the wall starts to become cracked. It doesn’t take more than a few seconds before he elbows the wall, pierce a huge hole in it. Then he stops and doesn’t move, starring inside of the dark pit.

Alex stands to join him and he doesn’t know how to react when his eyes land on this artefact. It looks like a large piece of broken glass, glowing in a soft light with thousands of weird symbols shimmering on it.

Slowly, Michael reaches for the strange object who lightens when his fingers touch it. Glancing at him, Alex realises he is smiling and doesn’t seem to wonder what this might be. He obviously already knows.

The alien manipulates his treasure so carefully that Alex doesn’t dare speaking as if the smallest sound would make Michael startle and break the piece. He can definitely wait a few more seconds before asking the thousand questions raging in his mind. But as soon as the shining glass is safely resting on his desk, the words escape his mouth of their own volition.

“What is that?”

His voice makes Michael jumps a little. Too absorbed by his finding, he seems to have forgotten that Alex was in the room with him.

“That a very long story.” He sighs. “But if you aren’t too tired, I could show you.”

“Yes… I mean, if you are okay with that, I would love to hear this story.” Alex nods. His stump doesn’t hurt yet, he can keep the prosthesis for a little longer. “Show the way.”

 

Michael parks his truck in the junkyard, right in front of the old trailer. Alex has been here a few times, usually when joining Michael for lunch. He knows Michael owns it and used to live there. But, lately, the alien spends most of the nights at the cabin. Most of his things are there too, he just has kind of moved in at the same time Alex did.  
He doesn’t mind that at all, on the contrary. Michael’s presence has really been helping with the nightmares. Besides, Alex doesn’t sleep late in the morning and enjoys having breakfast with him, even when he has early shifts at Sander’s. The only downside of the cabin is probably that it is a little bit too far from downtown. The evenings, when they are both back from work, they are usually too lazy to get up from the couch to go out with the others. That is probably the reason why Maria and Liz are forcing him to take a day off tomorrow.

As Michael reaches for the artefact on the back seat, Alex climbs out. He is still processing everything he has learnt during the ride. And he who thought there wasn’t anything else he could learn about alien. There were a piece of the ship that crashed in 1947 in Jim Valenti’s old hunting cabin. A piece of a freaking space ship. He wasn’t imagining it like that, creating a soft warm light. He wasn’t imagining anything, to be honest. But if someone had ask him about it, he would probably have answer that aliens had used the Millennium Falcon to come to Earth or maybe a Starfleet ship. They did seem cosy for a long trip in outer space, after all.

“Ready for some magic?”

The question breaks him out of his thoughts. Michael lifts his hand and without waiting for an answer, he moves his Airstream, revealing a trap on the floor.

“What is the problem with this town and secret bunkers?” Alex sighs as the hatch opens.

“No idea.” Michael chuckles. “But they are pretty handy sometimes.”

“You got a point. But this is still creepy.”

Michael leads the way to his own secret bunker, making the piece floating next to him as he climbs down the ladder. Alex follows him, a little slower because he doesn’t really thrust his leg with this kind of exercise.

Surprisingly, the bunker is big and there isn’t a rusty smell. The airing is working, making a soft and comforting sound. Unlike Project Shepherd’s bunker which is basically his dad turned into a building – cold and dangerous – or Jim Valenti’s weird rehab bunker, this one is welcoming. Michael must have spent lot of time down here. The place is neat, a bit overfill with stuff Alex doesn’t begin to understand.

“Have anyone ever seen this?” He wonders as he started wandering around a large table covered in blue prints.

“Liz, when we were looking for a cure for Izzy and Max. Noah locked us here during the Gala. But um…” Michael reaches for a tarp covering another part of his makeshift lab. “No one's ever seen this before.”

The table is covering in a huge piece of shimmering glass. Like the one they found in the cabin, many symbols are dancing below the surface. The blueprints seem to match the shape of the piece. Michael is building something. Some smaller parts are sitting next to it, probably waiting to find where they fit.

“I'm pretty sure it's a console. The ship's central control panel.”

Alex turns around, facing Michael. He is running nervously his hands in his curls.

“The ship? The spaceship that crashed in 1974?”

“Yeah. I think.”

“So, you are trying to rebuild the spaceship?”

“Sort of. It kind of builds itself. Pieces want to be together.”

“What do you mean they want to be?”

Michael takes the piece they found and hold it next to the panel. Suddenly, the artefact leaves his hand, slowly levitating above it. On its own, it turns and merges into the larger piece. Alex moves clover. There is no trace of a break, nothing at all. Michael answers his question before he can even ask it.

“When they fit, the molecules knit together on contact. It's like it was never broken at all. If I can find the rest, I can attach this to a vehicle and... well, try to find a way to leave…”

He is looking at the ground, staring at a stain of grease on his shoe. He seems ashamed to even thinking about leaving Earth. Alex drops in a chair nearby and takes Michael’s hands in his.

“I get it.” He says softly. “I have wanted to leave so many times in my whole life, to run away from place I feel like I didn’t belong in… and usually, when things get bad, I do.”

Michael is still staring at the ground but he has moved closer. Alex grabs another chair to make him sit.

“I never thought about space but, yeah, I couldn’t get any farther away from my dad. And given your history, I understand you want answers. You deserve them, you really do, Michael.”

Alex pulls him into a hug. Michael returns it and he can feels him shaking. He hold him until the cowboy pulls away, a small smile on his lips.

“Thanks.”

“Anytime.”

“But um… did you ever stop thinking about leaving?”

“Yes, did.” Alex smiles fondly at him. “I have found things… people worth staying and fighting for.”

“Oh.”

Michael pulls him in a kiss. The angle is weird but Alex is delighted to kiss him back. When they breaks for air, he rests his forehead on Michael’s, chuckling.

“Well, maybe we should call it a night.”

“Tired already, private?”

Alex pauses, pretending to think for a second.

“Not really… What do you have in mind?”

 

Alex pushes the door of the Wild Pony. Maria and Liz are sitting at a table with Mimi, chatting. His friends barely raise their head when they hear him.

“You’re late.”

He shrugs. He knows he is. He isn’t usually a late raiser, after years under his father’s roof and with the military. But, well, the previous night has been more tiring than he had expected. Smiling, he walks to the table them and takes a sit next to Mimi. She turns to face him, happiness written all over her face.

“Alex!” She opens her arms, welcoming him into a warm hug. “I’ve missed you, boy.”

He lets her. From any other adult, he might have run from the physical touch but since his mum left, Mimi has been here for him. Everyday. She would let him sleep in her house when things got too bad with his dad. More than once, he has thought about running away to go living with the DeLucas. But he was afraid about the consequences it might have on them. Then, he has moved to DC and all the plans to go to college with Maria and Liz had fallen apart. He had missed them and he had missed the hugs of Mama DeLuca.

“I have miss you too, Mimi.” He turns to the girls. “What are the plans for the day?”

“We were thinking about giving her a full-on Mama DeLuca day. Roswell's greatest hits. Watching some old movies at the Drive-in. I can rustle up some milkshakes at the Crashdown.”

“Sounds perfect.”

All of them rise and Maria starts heading to the back of the bar. Alex follows her while Liz gets Mimi outside.

“Need some help with that?” He asks, pointing at the neat pile of blankets on the floor.

“Yeah, thanks.” Maria smiles at him and takes the picnic bag next to it. “We should have everything now.”

Her movements are slow, lacking the trademark happiness and enthusiasm of Maria DeLuca. Alex puts the covers on a nearby table and reaches for her, placing his hand on her shoulder.

“How are you?”

Maria drops the bag on the floor and runs a hand in her hairs.

“I don’t know.” She sighs. “I’m happy to see that she is happy and having a great life at clinic but…It’s hard. She still forgets a lot of things, even me sometimes… I try to go visit her every day … and I especially miss having around, even when she was wandering and talking about Will Smith…”

Her voice breaks and she wipes her eyes, preventing tears to form in her eyes. As quickly as her mask breaks, it’s back and she smiles at him.

“But today is her day and I want her to have the best time she can. So can we not talk about that anymore?”

“Sure… sorry for bringing it up.”

“Don’t be. I’m glad you can be here today.” She turns to point at the pile of blankets. “So, make yourself useful and let’s go.”

The four of them, in the old red Chevrolet with some jazz playing from the radio and Mimi humming along bring back old memories. Happy memories. When everything wasn’t as complicated as today. They park in front of the Crashdown to go and grab food. Inside, their order is already waiting on the counter. Alex takes a few extra minutes to catch up with Arturo before grabbing the milkshakes and getting back to the car.

When they arrive at the drive-in, they quickly settle at a table. Before Alex can grab food, Mimi takes his hand and starts running a finger on the lines. He shakes his hand, smiling. You can’t escape a reading from Mama DeLuca. Maria and Liz come closer. Curious like he knows they are, they probably don’t want to miss a thing.

“I see a beautiful girl on your arm this year.”

“I think you might be … a little off with that take, Mom.” Maria chuckles.

“Wait, wait, wait.” Mimi holds a finger in the air. “I'm getting a little clarity. Still a girl. A great set of legs. Tail to die for. And a cute little snout... on your beagle.”

Alex laughs softly at that. He had always dreamt of having a dog. But with his leg missing, he had dismissed the idea after getting back from the Middle East. And right now might not be the best time to adopt a pet. Maybe later. Once he is done with all the Project Shepherd crap.

“All right, do Maria.”

“No. No, no. No peering into my future.” He raises an eyebrow, silently asking her why. “I hate spoilers.”

“Well, that means that Liz is up.” Alex shrugs and smiles at her.

She hesitates for a few seconds but Mimi doesn’t let her the time to think. She takes her hand and let her sit. Alex slides on the bench to give her more space.

“Don’t be scared. I'm very attuned.” Liz smiles and lets her go on. “The last time I read your aura, you were at a crossroads, looking for answers. Did you get them?”

“Yeah, I did.” Liz nods sadly. “What else?”

“You’re happy, like you haven’t been in a long time. You don’t want to run anymore, you have found your anchor.”

Mimi lets go of her hand and grabs a fry. She dips it in her shake, closing her eyes to savour the taste. Alex is quick to imitate her.

“These are so much better when you dip them in the shake.”

“Obviously.”

Maria and Liz make a face at them. Alex has never understand why they never appreciate the special taste of fries dipped into a shake. He just shrugs at them before doing it again. Their lunch is nice. They finally don’t start a movie and just spend the next hours chatting about every subject that crosses their mind. Alex talks a bit about the Middle East and the place he has seen, Liz about her road trip after graduation and her studies all around the country, Maria about life in Roswell and how the town had changed in the last decade.

At some point, Maria takes a joint out of her pocket. She and Liz slip away to smoke it, leaving Alex with Mimi. If it wasn’t a bad idea to mix drug and pain-killers meds, he might have join them. But he doesn’t, so he continues to chat with Mimi.

“You have a worried face. You didn't used to have that face.”

Alex frowns at her. He smiles at her and takes her hand in his.

“We're all concerned, Mimi.”

“No, it's not that. You have a secret.”

“I've already come out to you, like, seven times, you know.” He chuckles and takes a sip of his milkshake. “I also just told you I have a boyfriend.”

“You look like your dad today.”

Oh. That’s was definitely unexpected. He takes a breath before answering.

“Oh, god. I was hoping that the rage face might skip a generation.”

“Not your face.” Mimi frowns as she is trying to read him. “Your aura. I grew up with Jesse Manes, Alex. And I knew the very day that he learned too much. Because he came to school with the darkest energy around him. Energy from another place.”

“What place?” He is now genuinely curious to know what she knows about aliens. The real ones. Her speeches about Will Smith had to come from somewhere. And the way she talks about it, she definitely aware that something isn’t normal in this town.

“Something broke in this town once. Long ago. And the pieces shattered. We aren't meant to touch things from another world, Alex. The other world creeps into us and makes us ugly inside. Don't let it do to you what it did to your father. What it did to... poor, sweet, Jimmy Valenti.”

Alex jumps at the name. He knows the Valentis are involved with Project Shepherd, just like the Manes. But now, he suspects that there is something more about Kyle’s father. After all, there were a hidden piece of the spaceship that crashed in 1947 in his bunker. The only logical reason for him to put him there was to keep it from Jesse Manes. He has so many questions.

“Wait, what-what? What about Jim Valenti?”

But before Mimi can answer him, a car parks behind them. Alex rises suddenly. He knows this sound and recognizes it immediately. It is a military issued truck. And as he had suspected it, his father steps out of it.

“Alex.”

“What do you want?” His day was going so good so far, it couldn’t stay that way of course. Jesse Manes had to come here to ruin it. He is pissed.

“I just came back from the office. I have a few questions for you.”

Alex sighs. His father won’t leave until he gets what he wants. And he won’t let him come nearer Mimi who seems pretty afraid of the man. She is right to be. He takes a deep breath and starts walking towards his father. The least he can do is keeping him away from her. Maria and Liz shouldn’t be long by now.

“What do you want?” He asks again once he is in front of him.

Jesse Manes doesn’t react, staring at him with his icy blue eyes. Predator eyes. Alex can’t repress a shiver to run down his spine, but he stays still, standing his ground. No more running, he had promised himself.

“There is a problem in the bunker, you wouldn’t know what this is about, would you?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about. The last time I was there, everything was fine.”

“Sure.” Like always, his father stays quiet for a few second before continuing, as if he was calculating his next move. “I had a report from the headquarter saying that files are missing from the main server. I presume you don’t know anything about this, either.”

Alex nods. He knows perfectly what his father is implying. And he is right, Alex is definitely the reason behind all those problems. But he won’t give him the satisfaction to admit it right now. After a few months far away from him and with knowing his friends have his back, he is no longer afraid. Besides, he is from far the best codebreaker in Project Shepherd, that was the main reason his father hired him. He was very careful during his break-in and had perfectly covered his tracks. No one is going to be able to trace him. Jesse Manes has no proof, only suspicions and therefor he can’t do anything. He is safe. They are all safe. For now, but it’s enough to stand with a small victorious smile in front of his father.

“Anything else?”

Alex’s phone starts ringing and a quick look at the screen reveals that it is Kyle. His father opens his mouth – probably to warn him and make empty threats – but before he can say anything, Alex is answering the call.

“What’s up?”

“Remember the name Caulfield we saw in DC?”

From the corner of his eyes, Alex watches as his father getting back in his car and driving away. The way he slams the door is a real indication of his anger. Jesse Manes hates nothing more than being powerless and it shows. Alex can’t wait to crush his father’s life work. Smiling, he makes his way back to the table where Liz and Maria are chatting with Mimi.

“Yeah, sure. But I haven’t really had the time to dig about it yet.”

“I figured.” He can imagine the tired smile across Kyle’s face. Between his work at the hospital and helping him protecting the aliens, he doesn’t really have the time to rest. “Anyway, I asked my mom about it and she says it does ring a bell.”

“Really?” Maria raises an eyebrow at him, asking him silently what he is talking about. He tells her he will tell her later and reports his attention on Kyle. “So, you were saying that your mom knows the name Caulfield?”

“Yeah, apperently, it’s an old abondonned prison a few miles from here. She also gave me old letters from my dad. He wrote them when he was in the hospital. I’ve being studying it but I didn’t find anything relevant on them.”

“Why?”

“It’s a lot of scribbles, nothing I can read.”

“Your father was definitely involved in Project Shepherd at some point, so I think we should take a closer look at it.”

“If you say so. I finish my shift at four, that’s work for you?”

“Sure. Meet me at the cabin then.”

 

Like he had announced it, Kyle arrives at the cabin just after the end of his shift. He has dark rings under his eyes, clearly need some sleep but before Alex can say anything, Kyle hands him the letters. After a quick look at them, Alex puts them on the coffee table.

“You were right, it’s a lot of scribbles.”

“Yeah but…” Kyle points at a symbol that repeats himself here and there. “There are those, we can it at lot. It isn’t the only one, there is many more.”

Alex takes a closer look where his friend is putting his finger. The symbol is familiar, he has seen it somewhere before.

“I knows that symbol…” Kyle looks at him, his eyebrows frowned. Alex considers a moment telling him about Michael’s ship but finally decides against it. It isn’t his secret to tell. “I saw it on the files we got from DC. It’s an alien language, I think…”

“So you think my dad knows how to write with a fancy alien language. He was a small-town man.”

“You're right.” Alex chuckles. He thinks for a second before adding. “Well, maybe he used these alien symbols to send you a coded message. The, uh, symbols representing the English alphabet.”

“It's possible.” Kyle smiles at him. “Should we try to crack it?”

A few minutes later, they are settled in the basement. Alex scans the letters to put them on his computer. When it is done, he turns to Kyle who is comfortably sitting in the couch.

“All right, I need a key word or a phrase to crack this. It'd probably be something only you two would know, something personal.”

Kyle stays quiet for a second, lost in his thoughts.

“Try Magoo.”

Alex frowns at that but taps it anyway. It only takes a few second before the software makes a noise, indicating it has found a pattern. He lets it work and spins his chair but before he can ask his question, Kyle answers it.

“It was my nickname.”

“I wish I knew that back then.” He chuckles before facing the screen again.

They can read ‘ _I love you Magoo_ ’ on it but after that, it seems that there is no longer a pattern. Just some random letters and numbers. Behind him, Kyle sighs deeply.

“I don't know, he was sick, man. I mean, we're lucky that any of this makes sense. Maybe he just wanted to tell you he loves you.”

“In code? I don’t… Wait, look!”

The small noise doesn’t stop, the software keeps finding matches. Slowly, the name ‘ _Caulfield_ ’ appears in front of theirs eyes, with a few numbers following.

“Do you think those are coordinates?”

“There is only one way to find out.” Alex opens a browser tab and quickly taps the number sequence. “I have a match… It isn’t far away from here, a couple hour driving maybe.”

“Why would my dad send me some random location in the desert in a coded message?”

“Wait… Look, could it be the prison your mom was talking about?”

“Yeah, it definitely looks like an abandonned building…”

“He probably wanted you to know about this place and needed to make sure you would be the only one able to read the message.”

“Your dad did ask me about those letters...”

“Why didn’t you tell me that sooner?”

“I didn’t know it was that important. Besides, my mom had them. So I stole them and gave him copies. Today my mom gave me the originals.”

Alex nods and starts tipping on his computer.

“I need to finish cracking the file on Caulfield we stole from DC, but we will definitely go there at some point. I also found some very interesting information about the Roswell’s branch of Project Shepherd.”

He opens a file to show Kyle when he can hear Michael entering the cabin.

“Alex?” He asks. “I saw your car outside, aren’t you supposed to be with Liz and Maria?”

“I was.” He shouts back. “But Kyle made a discovery about Caulfield. We are down here if you want to join.”

Sure enough, Michael climbs down the ladder a few seconds later. He take off his hat, puts on the table and flops down on the couch next to Kyle.

“So, what were you talking about?”

“I find out that the Roswell’s branch of Project Shepherd was shut down in 2008. There shouldn’t be any activity here.”

“So you are saying your dad has been illegally keeping tabs on us for ten years?”

“That’s sound like him. Unfortunately.” Alex leans back on his chair. “But I could call it in, his superiors would love to know that he has been going behind their back for a decade.” He marks a pause. “I have already started writing an email, I should be able to send it in a couple of days.”

A small smile creeps on Michael’s face and Alex can help but smile back. Soon enough, they will all be free from the Jesse Main threat. He can’t wait for it.


	8. Final Threat

“So your dad is running a no-authorized project and you want us to go take a look at one of his secret facilities?”

Alex nods and takes a look around the room. Everyone is here, for a meeting on how to take down Jesse Manes. He just had just exposed his plan, and well, not everyone one – like Liz – is on board with it.

“Are you sure this is a good idea?” Max asks.

Alex wants to answer that no, it isn’t but it is all they got. It is all he gots. The email to take Jesse Manes off Project Shepherd is ready but there isn’t enough proofs. For now, he is just monitoring some random people. He might get an honourable discharge for that, but Alex wants him behind the bars. He wants to prove that his father is the real threat. Not the aliens.

“I think this is the best move we can make against him. We need to destroy all evidence of the fact that aliens are leaving amongst us.” He explains. “I already took care of everything compromising in his bunker and in DC but he might also have some back-ups there.”

“You sure it isn’t just an abandoned building?” Maria points at the picture of the table. “Because it sure as hell looks like it.”

“We thought too.” Kyle interrupts. “But Alex manages to get some satellite images of it during the past few months. We can see vehicles coming in and out of the facility.”

“When did you do that?” Michael glances at him. Alex just shrugs. He couldn’t slept a lot during the past few days, so he had used this time to keep digging. And it was very useful, because he had found many interesting information on Caulfield.

“My dad seems to go there every month, we should definitely take a look.” He doesn’t answer Michael’s question. “It’s only a couple hour away from here, I thought we might go Saturday. According to the footage, the site in only busy during the week.”

“That’s explain a lot.” Maria whispers for herself. But it is loud enough for everyone to her, making them turns to face her. She sighs. “When Jesse comes back in town every month, he always disappear for a couple of days. I always assume he was in the nearby Air Force base, but this makes a lot more sense.”

“I didn’t know you were keeping tabs on my father.” Alex smiles at her.

“I’m a bartender.” She retorts with a snort of amusement. “It’s part of my job to know where everyone is in the town.”

“What else do you know about the place?” Cam asks. She has been quiet during the whole meeting, listening carefully to every one of them.

“From the records we have, it was used after the crash to study whatever they had found. Alien tech, mostly from what I have read. They try to understand it to be able to use it on Earth.”

“Did they had any result?” Alex knows saying that would pique Michael’s curiosity. He answers with a smile.

“No, unfortunately. It was too advanced for them to understand, I think.” He turns to the rest of them. “Any more questions?” No one answers so he goes on. “So, who is in for paying a small visit to one of my father’s secret facilities?”

“You had me at alien tech.” Michael answers rapidly.

“Same here.” Liz smiles, making Alex sighs. Those two are going to geek on this for months, if they manages to find something.

The Evans twins share a look before Max nods. Then, Alex looks at Maria.

“I have dreamt of taking down a secret organisation, or something.” She gestures at Liz and him. “Besides, I can’t let you two have all the fun.”

Cameron is the next to talk.

“I have a shift Saturday, not possible for me. But I can keep an eye on Master Sergeant Hard-Ass for you.”

“Thank, that would be great.” Alex doesn’t show his disappointment. He was really counting on Cameron and Max to help him keep the others safe. Even with their powers, Michael and Isobel doesn’t measure up against trained military. And well, even if he knows that Kyle, Maria and Liz can definitely throw a punch, he can’t imagine a scenario when this would come handy.

“Great, now that everyone is on board, we can discuss the details.” Alex says as he grabs the blueprints that are sitting, perfectly rolled, under the table. They have a lot more to do before going to Caulfield.

 

A few hours later, Alex is comfortably curled up on the couch with Michael. The flames are crackling in the fire place, casting soft warm lights on the room. On the coffee table, blueprints and sheets covered in scribblings are the vestige of their meeting. It did take a few hours, but now they are now set for Saturday. His hand is lost in Michael curls and he can practically swear he is purring under the touch. Slowly, he takes it off to rub his face. Michael whines at the loss of contact.

“Michael.” He speaks quietly, weighting his words. “There is something I need to tell you. About Caulfield.”

The alien turns his head slightly to look at him. He doesn’t say anything, waiting for Alex to continue on his own, even if expectancy is written all over his face.

“It wasn’t only used to do research on the tech they found at the crash site. They were also…” He pauses, taking a deep breath. There isn’t an easy way to break the news. He just have to say it. “There were keeping people there, too.”

For a few seconds, Michael’s face stay the same before horror takes the place of his small, content smile. Alex watches as his boyfriend understands what he is talking about.

“Aliens.”

It isn’t a question but Michael is looking at him like he is going to refute what he just says. Alex doesn’t, he can’t. He really wishes he could, but it would be fair to keep the truth about his kind from him.

“Did they...” It’s Michael turns to take a deep breath. “Did they experiment on them?”

“Probably.” Alex sighs deeply. “I have come across some reports about experiment on the subjects…”

“Have you read them?”

“No.” He shakes his head and puts his hand back in Michael’s curls. “I don’t need to read them to know that my family is full of monsters…”

“Not all of them.” Michael quickly kisses him. “You’re not like any of them.” Another kiss. “And you’ll never.”

“You don’t know what I did during…” He wants to protest but the alien is prompt to cut him with another kiss.

“Stop. Don’t go down that road again, Alex. I … uh, I have another question.”

Alex nods, he knows what Michael wants to ask him. He doesn’t have a real answer for him and really hope they will get one Saturday.

“Is there any survivor still alive?”

Even if he was expecting it, the question takes Alex by surprise. He probably wasn’t thinking that the cowboy would be so blunt.

“I don’t know. I haven’t found records for after 2010 and the ones I have read quickly don’t say a word about them.”

Michael closes his eyes, sighing. Alex pulls him closer. He knows how hard this is. He has spent months waiting for his mom to come back, rushing at the front door every time he thought he heard her car. It was never her. In a way, his father’s treatment had quickly crushed his hopes. Michael’s has been hoping to find more like him for years. He had lost a huge part of this hope with the time. Until Noah came along. Noah who died before he could get the chance to ask him about everything. If Noah had survived, more could have. Even if the man was a real monster, he had boosted Michael’s hopes. Alex doesn’t wantt to be the one to crush them.

“Thank you for telling me.” Michael finally speaks, looking at the ceiling, his head resting on Alex’ chest.

“You’re welcome.” He kisses his curls. “I just … I didn’t what to give you or Max and Isobel false hopes, that’s why I didn’t mention it earlier but uh … I thought you deserve to know.”

“Thank you, Alex.”

 

The sun is barely rising but the cabin is already crowded. Everyone is there, getting ready for their little trip. Alex is finishing his cup of coffee when Kyle comes sit next to him.

“You sure you want to do that?”

“I have to.”

Slowly, his best friend nods. Alex knows this isn’t the answer he was waiting for. But this is the only one he can give. Because he doesn’t want to. He doesn’t want to risk his friends’ life by taking them on this war against his father. He wishes he doesn’t even have to take down his father, that he could be regular son with a regular father. But no, his father is hunting down aliens – innocents. He has to stop it.

Alex stands up, putting his cup in the sink. It is time.

“Everyone’s ready?” They all rises, silently. No one is in the mood for chatting. “Alright, let’s go.”

They had decided to take only two cars. In the first one, Michael is driving, softly humming. Next to him, Alex is focused on his computer, watching the images of Caulfield from the satellite he has managed to hack. Behind them, on the back seat, Kyle is probably playing on his phone from the sound of it. Max, Liz, Isobel and Maria are following them, in another vehicle.  
They have been on the road for over an hour when Kyle finally breaks the silence.

“This is starting to get boring.”

Alex turns slightly his head to look at him over his shoulder.

“Don’t worry, this day is probably going to be far away from boring.”

“I figured.” He smiles. “But can we talk, put some music or something. This silence is starting to be way too heavy for me.”

“Can you just complaint in silent?” Michael interrupts. “No one cares.”

“Can you just stop being an asshole?”

“Takes one to know one.” The alien is smirking, looking at Kyle in the rear-view mirror. “Now shut up, Valenti, I’m trying to concentrate.” Kyle grumbles something but Michael doesn’t seems to pay it any mind as he turns to Alex. “Where to now?”

“You still have to keep going for a few miles. Then, we turn, cross a few little towns before taking an old, dirt trail that leads to Caulfield.”

“Could your dad choose a place a little bit more accessible?”

“I think this was the point, he probably didn’t want anyone to come there by mistake.” Alex chuckles. “But I will mention it to him, the next time I see him, don’t worry.”

“You should also tell him that hunting aliens is bad, while we are at it.” Kyle adds, leaning to put his head between the two front’s seats. “Maybe he will stops, then.”

“For once, that Valenti has a good idea. We could say that to Jesse Hard Ass too.”

“So are we just going make a list of thing we need to say to my father?” Alex raises an eyebrow at both of them. “Are you sure he will listen to them?”

“Yeah, with a gun against his head, he might.” Michael laughs but his eyes don’t sparkle the way they usually do when he is happy. He is seriously thinking about taking Jesse Manes out to protect his family.

“No one is killing anyone.” Alex reminds them. “I have done enough hacking to get you all out of trouble for the next years.”

“You aren’t funny. But don’t worry, that’s why I have family in the Sheriff Department.” The cowboy winks. “Though, it might be a little more complicate to get a good lawyer now that Noah is dead.”

“I don’t think that how things works in the real world.”

“How many times do I have to tell you, Valenti? I’m not from this freaking planet, I can’t do things like everyone else.” Michael turns his head and sticks his tongue out like a kid. Kyle looks shocked at the childish move.

“I still can’t believe why no one had figured out you were an alien before. You never did things like anyone, even back in high school.”

“Oh yeah, like what?” Alex asks, genuinely curious.

“You were all dumb in high school.” Michael retorts.

“There is this time, you got in a fight with one of the jocks…”

“Sure it wasn’t you, Valenti?”

“Oh, shut up. And keeps your eyes on the road, I don’t what to die today!” Kyle turns to Alex. “Anyway, he was skinny as hell but once he punched a guy, sending him flying in the locker room.”

“He fucking deserved it.”

“Did he? I don’t remember what it was about.”

“Me neither, but I don’t punch people without a good reason.”

With a quick glance to Michael, Alex can tell he remembers. But he doesn’t say anything. He leans back in his seat, closing his eyes. Michael and Kyle are still bickering, talking about their high school memories and events for the past few years. Lulled by their voice and the motor’s whirring, Alex slowly falls asleep.

When Alex wakes up, Michael is driving into the dirt road.

“Hey Sleeping Beauty.” He turns to him, smiling.

“How long?” He asks rubbing his left arm, stiff after being used as a pillow.

“An hour and an half, give or take.” Kyle answers from the back. “And according to your researches, we are only thirty minutes away from our destination.”

“Perfect.” Alex nods. “How are the others?”

Michael glances at the rear view mirror.

“Still behind us. We lost them for a while, on the highway, but they manage to catch up somehow.”

“What happens?”

“Max ‘I don’t drive above the speed limit’ Evans happens.” Michael chuckles.

“It’s safer to respect the speed limit.” Kyle objects. “No one likes having a car accident.”

“Sorry for not being as boring as you two. And I usually drive above the speed limit but, as you can see, I have never have a freaking car accident.”

“That’s called luck.”

“Nah, that’s called I don’t want to have a car accident so I make sure I don’t.” Michael turns rapidly his head to flash a grin at Kyle who just sighs. “Besides if people were more careful about their cars, there would be less trouble.”

“So you just want more work?”

“I wish I could just get more money without working more but it doesn’t work like that, so yeah.”

“You were already brilliant in middle school and I know you still are… So why did you go to college?” Alex asks, after listening silently to them for a few minutes.

Michael and Kyle share a look. Alex knows a lot happened while he was in DC. He had talk a bit about that with them. But, he still haven’t figured out how a man as smart at Michael never went to college at some point. From the way they look at him, he thinks it might have been better to choose another time to ask. But before he can apologize and change the subject, the cowboy answers.

“The truth is I had a full ride to UNM but … well, I never got the occasion to leave Roswell after high school.”

Alex slowly nods. He is glad Michael has agreed to answer him, he won’t ask him to explain the decision he took at the time. From the details they had told him, he knows what he is talking about. Isobel, Rosa, a decade and Liz rolling into town to dig some deep buried secrets, find an alien serial killer and uncover a government conspiracy. Roswell only had the appearance of a quiet town.

“What about now?” Michael turns his face, eyebrows raised and confusion written on his face. Alex explains his thoughts. “I mean, after all of that is finished, would you like to go back to school? You could do great things.”

“Alex is right, man. You definitely have the skills to work for some fancy enterprise, the NASA or something.”

“Or something.” Michael sighs. “I don’t know… I have never considered it, actually. Is it weird to go back to school at almost thirty?”

“I just finished school, to be honest.” Kyle chuckles. “So I’m going to say not really.”

“I know some guys who started college after getting out of the Air Force. Some of them were even older than us now.” Alex adds. “I think it never too late to take back your studies.”

Michael nods, smiling lightly, before focusing again on the road in front of him. When he starts talking again, he changes completely the subject but neither Alex nor Kyle makes a remark. He probably needs time to think about college, after all. Alex makes a mental note of bringing the subject back later. He truly believes that even if Michael loves his job at Sander’s, he would be even more fulfilled if he got to work on space engineering.

 

Too soon, their conversation about the difference between living in a big city and living in Roswell stops abruptly as Michael parks the car. Without a word, they slowly get out of the vehicle. Max and the others aren’t there yet, so the only thing they can do is wait for them.  
The sun is high and bright in the cloudless sky, making Alex regrets not having his sunglasses as he shields his eyes with his hand. He didn’t think he would have need them, they aren’t really useful inside a building after all. He takes a few steps to stretch his legs, walking around the car until stopping when there is the biggest shadow. Next to him, Michael takes a deep breath.

“I don’t like this place.”

Alex glances at him. He doesn’t like it either and would rather be miles away, in the couch of the cabin than here but he doesn’t share this thought. He promised he would stop his father and bring this part of Project Shepherd down and he will do it. Even if there were far more interesting activities. Even being at his desk in DC, looking for alien life in space sounded better.

The tall white building standing in front of them was menacing. Alex knows it used to be a prison from all his researches but even a prison would be more welcoming than that. The tiny windows with bars look like they have seen better days. If he didn’t know better, he would say the building has been abandoned for years. Its location, far away from everything, had helped keep squatters and teens away, probably. The perfect cover for an underground and unauthorized military operation.

Alex pushes himself of the car to retrieve his backpack in the truck. A quick look at his phone reveals he doesn’t have any messages. No news is good news, in this case. It means Jesse is still in Roswell, with no idea of what he is doing. He takes a tablet out and quickly connects it with a thermal imaging camera. Kyle comes behind him to look at the screen.

“Anything?”

“Not yet. Be patient.” Alex goes back the place he was standing a few minutes before with Michael. Kyle is quick to follow him. The alien is no longer there. “Have you seen Michael by the way?”

Even if they are in the middle of nowhere, with at first glance, no one here but them, they are still next to a building where people used to experiment on alien. So, even if he won’t admit it directly, he would rather have everyone in his field of vision. Kyle can’t blame him for being a bit worried. His friend just shrugs and Alex rolls his eyes.

“What? I’m not here to babysit an alien. Besides isn’t it your job to…?”

“I can hear you, shut up Valenti.” Michael’s voice come from behind an old abandoned school bus. How it even gets there is a mystery on itself. A few seconds after, the cowboy appears from behind the vehicle. At the same moment, another car parks next to them. Soon after, Liz, Maria, Isobel and Max joins them.

“So far, I have nothing on the camera.” Alex shows them. “But the building might have been treated to make this kind of stuff useless.” He gestures to the old prison.

“So they might be people in this building and we don’t know about it?” Maria asks as she takes a closer look at the screen.

“Pretty much.” Alex nods.

“I thought we were planning on using the element of surprise.” Liz works. “It won’t work if we don’t know how many people we are up against.”

“It will work differently.” He corrects her with a grin. “We might not know how many they are, but they also have no idea we are coming.”

“There were definitely aliens in here at some point.” Michael interrupts. Everyone turns to him.

“How can you….”

“You can feel them too?”

He nods slowly to answers Isobel’s question.

“I can feel some old pain, too.” Max adds. “Michael is right.”

Liz gives him a concerned look but doesn’t say anything.

“At least, we know we are at the right place.” Kyle’s tone is cheerful, he is trying to release the atmosphere but his attempt isn’t very successful, unfortunately.

“Yeah, we do.” Alex sighs before turning to Max. “Did you bring it?”

He nods and retrieves a huge duffle bag from his car. Putting on the floor, he opens it to reveal a bunch of bullet proof jackets.

“Where did you get those? Did you steal them?” Michael seems very proud of his brother and grins at him.

“What?! No!” On the other hand, Max seems horrified by the mere idea of stealing. “Kyle and I ask for it.”

“Courtesy of the Roswell’s Sherriff department.”

“You’re disappointing Max.” Michael sighs and grabs a jacket. “Why do we need them, anyway?”

“I don’t know, maybe because we are about to storm a military facility.” Isobel says with irony.

“No kidding. I just thought the plan was to avoid meeting people.”

“Better safe than sorry.” Alex interrupts. “And as far as I know, no one is bullet proof.”

“Well, I still think we need to put this theory to the test.” Michael turns his head to smile at him.

“Once again, Michael, I won’t shoot you to see if you can stop a bullet.” He sighs making the cowboy pouts. He isn’t ready to have this conversation again. A bullet proof alien can come handy at some point but it isn’t the moment.

He gives the last jacket to Liz who looks at him without taking it.

“What about Kyle and you?”

“We have our own, in the car.”

“You have a bullet proof jacket?” Confusion is written all over her face as she turns to Kyle. “Why in hell would you need a bullet proof jacket?”

“Master Sergeant Manes tried to kill me, a few months back.” He shrugs. “I thought he was following me so I bought it. It saved my life, so I would say it’s was a great purchase.”

“Why didn’t you tell us about that?”

“Well, you all had a lot on your plates at that time and he only tried once before disappearing again. Then Alex was back, so yeah, I forget to tell you about that.”

“How can you forget that someone tried to kill you?” Maria is definitely shocked by Kyle’s revelation.

“You know, I don’t remember how many times people tried to kill me.” Alex chuckles. “I stopped counting a long time ago.”

“That’s different, you were in the Army…”

“Air Force.”

Maria doesn’t seem to care about his correction as she continues. “And Kyle is a freaking surgeon. He shouldn’t need one.”

“There were a shooting at the hospital, last year.” Liz objects. “This kind of thing is always useful.”

Before anyone can tell anything else, Isobel lets out a deep annoyed sight.

“I don’t know about you but I don’t have all day. Should we go or not?”

Alex looks at her, nodding. She is right, they better move now. He quickly grabs his jacket in the car and puts it on. The others imitate him and they all turns to face the building.

“Ready?”

“No.” Kyle answers honestly. “I probably never will but let’s go before I change my mind.”

 

The silence is practically deafening. Their footsteps on the concrete floor is the only sound. If the building looks abandoned from the outside, it is probably before a large part of it actually is. The signs at the junctions are the only proofs of the occupation of this aisle of the building. In a way, Alex is glad this is the first part they are visiting. At least, they won’t bump into anybody here.

The difference is noticeable between the abandoned aisles and the one still in service. The floor and walls are cleaner and there is a weird smell of chemicals products. Alex notices the camera immediately after they pass a door, the little red light going on and off to indicate it is recording. If someone is watching the feed, he now knows there is unwanted people in the building. They all stay still for a minute but nothing happened. Behind him, someone lets out a breath.

“It’s not working.” Michael cursed behind him, making Alex turns his head. “My powers aren’t working here, I can’t turn off the cameras.”

“I figured as much. But I can erase the feed in the control room one we get there. So, we stick to the plan like we planned.”

Led by Liz, Max, Maria and Isobel disappear in the left corridor. That left Alex with Michael and Kyle to explore the one on their right. Gun ready, Alex starts moving, the others two on his steps.

“Come on, this way.”

They explore in silence the different rooms along the corridor but they seem to be in the guards’ quarters. So far, they haven’t found anything valuable and Alex hopes than the other group is luckier than them.

They have to stop because of a rusty metal gate. Like with the cameras, Michael’s power are ineffective. Putting the tablet he was still holding in his hand on the floor, Alex starts picking up the lock to open it.

“Why can't you Magneto your way through this one?” Kyle asks Michael as they both watch him work. Alex turns to him, a wide smile on his lips.

“I didn’t thought you like the X-men.” Kyle sighs deeply. “Which one is your favourite?”

“I don't know. And how long is this going to take?” Kyle doesn’t answer his question, not that Alex minds: it isn’t the right moment to have a discussion about which X-men is the best.

“Not long, normally.” As he speaks, he can hear the distinct sound of a lock opening and the gate opens with a creaking. “There it is.”

Kyle looks at the door, at Michael before his gaze stops on him. He seems pensive. Waiting for him to talk, Alex grabs his tablet and gladly accepts Michael’s help to get back on his feet.

“So, you both know how to pick a lock. Great, that’s great.”

Alex quickly glances at Michael, who is obviously grinning, and nods. He doesn’t really understand where Kyle is going with that and he plans on asking him when the tablet starts beeping. The motion sensor he had installed on the device must have detect something.

“Wait, someone's coming. I'll take care of this. Go.”

He pushes Michael towards the door but the alien doesn’t seem really happy about leaving him here because he doesn’t move.

“You can’t stay here, Michael. I’ll deal with whatever is coming but you have to go.” He looks at Kyle, already on the other side of the metal gate. “Head towards the entrance.”

“No.” Michael protests.

“Go.” Alex wasn’t planning on using his soldier voice but it seems to startle Michael enough to push him in the corridor. Then, he closes the door with a loud clang. “Go. I’ll be alright.”

The two men starts walking away. Well, more like Kyle is pulling Michael with him. But as long as they are safe, Alex doesn’t care. He will do whatever he has to do. He can now hear footsteps coming his way.

“Don't move.” A man is standing behind him, probably holding a weapon. Alex doesn’t to take stupid risks so he lets his backpack fells with a thud on the floor. Then, he slowly starts to move to get on his knees. He can sense that the man behind him relax at that. Mistake. Big mistake. Turning as quickly on himself as he can with the prosthesis, Alex grabs his gun to point it at the other man. Who doesn’t seem surprise at all, if the way he quietly chuckles is any indication.

“I didn't think you had it in you.”

Flint. The man standing in front of him is not some stranger. Flint. How many of his sons Jesse Manes has he recruited for his little crusade? Alex doesn’t really know what to think. Maybe he was hoping he was the only one still under the man’s control.

“It's been a long time, Flint.” He nods politely, putting back the gun in his holder. Even if he doesn’t like his big brother that much, having him on his side is better than having him siding with their father. “Good to see you.”

“Why are you here, Alex?”

“Uh…” Alex takes his backpack from the floor. He hates presenting his back to a potential enemy but he also need to be sure Flint doesn’t see him as a threat. The last thing he needs is his brother calling their father to tell him he is here. “Dad sent me to fortify the digital security measures.”

“Aren't you supposed to be out of the Air Force?”

“Like you're stationed in Munich?” Flint raises an eyebrow at him, not answering the question. “I am out. Of the Air Force. I’m a consultant for Project Shepherd, actually.” But he isn’t done with his questions. Flint’s presence here is still a real mystery. “You're able-bodied, of sound mind. Why are you in this hole instead of out there basking in the glory you deserve?”

Flint is smiling as he takes Alex down another corridor. Alex too but he doesn’t show it as much. Like every Manes sons, Flint is craving recognition. All Alex needs to do now is keep praising his brother to get some answer out of him.  
But surprisingly, he doesn’t seems to hate being here. Quite the opposite, actually.

“You know, it's not a hole.” The two brothers enters in a small room. The control room. Alex doesn’t believe his luck right now. “See, you wouldn't believe the scientific breakthroughs we've hatched in this facility. Ever since the, uh...”

“1947 UFO crash?” Flint nods. He was probably expecting a reaction. Alex won’t give him this satisfaction. “Like I said, Dad told me the family secret.”

Under his brother watch, he slowly walks around the room. It’s probably the room were people in the building spend the most of their time. He tries not to stop too long in front of the security footage. From what he can see, his friends – and especially the three aliens – are nowhere to be seen. For an instant, he wonders if Flint knows he wasn’t here alone. He has to, the corridor in which he met him wouldn’t be on a round from the blue prints he has seen. But so far, Flint hasn’t say anything. Alex doesn’t want to panics now but he is sure something is wrong. Deep breath. He has to figure out what his brother is hiding from him.

He continues his tour, before his eyes lands on some digital blueprints on a computer. There is an unfinished cup of coffee next to it. Flint was probably working on that before.

“You're not a scientist. You're a Special Forces Weapons Sergeant. What are you doing here?” He asks suddenly, raising his head to stare at Flint. Fortunately, like him, Flint had inherited their mom browns eyes and not the icy blue ones of Jesse Manes. He wouldn’t have been to hold his gaze. Pieces are slowly assembling in his mind and Alex is praying that he is imagining everything.

“Dad brought me in five years ago. He wanted to build a wall against an impending alien invasion.”

The project he is looking at doesn’t look like a wall. Besides, his father is smarter than the actual president. He wouldn’t stop at a simple wall. He would find a way to exterminate the ones he considers a threat to the county. That looks like a thermobaric ordnance. They are making a bomb, a smart bomb to get rid of aliens. Alex forces himself to let out the breath he is holding.

“It's a smart bomb.” Flint explains while gesturing to his screen.

“Oh, will it feed my beagle?” Alex wants the ground to shallow him whole. It was very stupid to ask that but his brother just raised an unimpressed eyebrow at him before continuing his explanation. He seems passionate about this project. So much for thinking he could use Flint, his brother thrusts his father way to deeply.

“We are still testing it but the results are very promising so far. We are trying to make it harmless to humans right now. The plan is to kill aliens using their own DNA against them.” He smiles widely and all Alex wants is punching him in the face. But he needs more information on the weapon to be able to destroy it. “We didn’t have any more tests subjects but thanks to your researches on some Roswell habitants, we will be able to resume them soon enough.”

Alex wants to throw up. His father just send him in Roswell to make sure that the Evans twins and Michael were aliens because he needs them for his insane project. And like a perfect idiot, he had agreed to let them come with him in Caulfield. He needs to get them out right now, before it’s too late. But with Flint watching him, he can’t do anything right now. He needs to figure something out. He needs time. Stalling. He can do that to find a way to get rid on Flint and save the others.

“Aren’t bioweapons banned by international treaty?” He asks. “How did you manage to get the funds for those researches?”

“The project is off the grid but Dad has some powerful friends.” Flint shrugs. Not knowing where the money come from doesn’t seem to bother him much. “And the U.N.'s jurisdiction ends at the ozone layer.”

“The jurisdiction on genocide? That is what you are planning, isn’t it?”

Even how much he tried to, Alex can’t totally hide the disgust in his voice. But he needs to keep stalling. And he needs to drink something before he can throw up. That would really ruin everything.

“Genocide is the aliens' intent for us during a systematic invasion. They're perfectly designed to kill. It's coming. The question is whether or not we'll be ready.”

He starts moving towards his backpack. He knows he has a bottle of water in it and he doesn’t trust Flint enough to ask him for it. He can feel his brother’s eyes on his back. Keep him talking. That is the plan.

“Perfectly designed to kill, how so?”

“We had an alien that can cause a brain tumour.” Alex flinches. A horrible thought crosses his mind. He forces himself to think about something else. “He is so powerful he could probably give a tumour to a wall of bricks.”

“How do you know that?”

“They tested the abilities of every one of them. Used to send rabbits and mice in his cell.” Flint gestures to the glass window on an entire wall.

Alex immediately forget the bottle of water to walk across the room. A huge hall with glass doors at regular space on several floor.

“Could he control his powers?”

“Does it matter? They're all killers. All of them. Makes them stronger, or something. We have the research to prove it.”

“What kind of research? Anyone would want to kill their abuser, wouldn’t they? Maybe it was…” Alex bites his tongue. He had spoken to quickly.

“Dad didn't send you, did he?” He turns around to see Flint grabbing a gun from a desk. His brother shakes his head. “No, Dad would never send you.”

And he presses the trigger. Alex moves to avoid being hit in the torso. He senses the dart in his shoulder. It was a bad idea, he should have stay still. The dart would have been stopped by his bullet proof jacket.

He feels himself falling on the ground, his right leg twisting in a very wrong way. He tries not to close his eyes. He needs to stay awake. To keep fighting. To find to way to get the others out before it is too late. He needs to…

 

A slap on the face jerks him awake. The white light is half blinding him but Alex can tell he isn’t alone on the room. His leg hurts like hell. He blinks several times before being able to see his surroundings. He is facing a concrete wall. Still in Caulfield then. He tries to move next. He can’t. He is tied up on a chair.

“Why are you really here, Alex?” Flint is with him. Alex shrugs, he doesn’t want to answer this question.

Twisting his head, he can a glass door. In a cell. His brother put him in a cell in Caulfield. His hands are in cuffs, preventing him to stand up. But if there is one advantage of growing up with Jesse Manes, it is that he has had a broken thumb more than once. If he can just break off his finger maybe he can get away from here.

“Don’t.” He raises his head, challenging Flint. “Don’t try to get those cuffs off.”

One problem, he isn’t the only one who has grown up with Jesse Manes. His brother probably knows what he is trying to do. He won’t apologize to trying that, though.

“You ever get tired of being the black sheep of the family?” His older brother lets out a deep sight.

“Do you ever get tired of following the flock?”

This is the weirdest thing in the Manes family. None of them like their father but they all did whatever he wanted to try to please him. Alex had to lost half a leg to realise he would never be good enough and to stop trying to be. Apparently, he was the only one there yet.

“I know it wasn't easy for you growing up with Dad, but I tried my best to protect you from him.”

“Oh, spare me.” Alex spits. “Don't worry, I won't tell him that you let me in. Daddy would still be proud of you, his perfect little soldier.”

“I’m also very proud of you, son.” The cold voice makes Alex freeze. “After all, thanks to you, I have now three news tests subjects. I shouldn’t have underestimate you.”

In front of him, Flint is now standing at attention. Jesse Manes slowly circles around the chair where Alex is sitting. All the cells in his body are screaming for him to get away but he can’t. He is helpless, his father watching him like a lion would watch his next prey. He try to sit as upright as he can. He doesn’t want his father to know how scared he is right now. Not for him, that’s the worst thing. Without him, Max, Isobel and Michael wouldn’t be in the building right now. They wouldn’t be at the mercy of Jesse Manes’ cruelty. It is all his fault.

“Hi Alex.” His father stops in front of him. The sight of his youngest son, the family’s disappointment, tied up on a chair, makes him slightly smile.

“Hi Dad.”


	9. Game Over

Alex doesn’t know how long he has been sitting on this chair. At some point, Flint had taken off the cuff and lock the door but he hasn’t move. Probably a few hours if the pain in his stump is any indicator. But now isn’t the time to take off the prosthesis, he needs it to get out of here. Once he figured out how to do that.

A movement across the hall, in the cell directly in front of his, catches his attention. Long and black and shiny hair. Liz. His father got Liz. If Liz is locked up, it is probably the case for Maria, Isobel and Max.

His friend seems to have seen him too because she waves for him to come closer to the door. She is pointing to the cell next to him, making him frowns. Slowly, she writes a name on the cell door. Maria. Maria is next to him.  
Then she is writing other names. Alex shakes his head, he doesn’t see them in the cells next to Liz’. He doesn’t want to think about what his father might do to them. It is all his fault.

There is another movement in the hall. For a moment, Alex thinks that someone has come to save them. Except no one knows where they are. Wait. Someone knows. Cam knows. But alone, she can’t do anything. The loud clang of the door opening startle him and he tenses when he realises Flint is the one standing in front of him. There is cuffs in his hands.

“Dad wants you to come see what you make happen.”

Of course. Winning isn’t enough for Jesse Manes, he also has to gloat. But if his father thinks has really beat him, he would be easier to find a way to turn the tables. He just needs to come up with an idea than won’t kill them all. He can do that.

Without another word, Alex lets his brother put the cuffs on his wrists and drags him in the hall. When he passes in front of Maria cell, he turns slightly his head. She seems fine and really pissed. He can’t tell if it is at him, his father or the whole situation in general though. They walks past another couple of empty cells before he had to stops, shocked. There is a body in a cell. From the absence of movements and the colour of the skin, this person has been dead for a while now. His father despises aliens so much he lets their bodies rot. He nearly pukes on Flint’s shoes. This isn’t the only one. In each of the following cell, bodies are rotting. Some are far more decomposed than others. You can tell in what order Jesse Manes decided to kill them.

Hopefully, they leave this nightmare as his brother takes him to the aisle he had send the other group in earlier today. The lab part of the facility, it seems. They enter in a small room, with – like the control room – a huge window overlooking a larger room.  
In the middle, Isobel and Max are strapped on large metallic tables. Michael is nowhere to be seen, just like Kyle and Alex really wishes they are okay.

His father is standing next to the two aliens. He is speaking on the phone but the comms aren’t opened between the two rooms so Alex can’t hear what he is saying.

Flint moves quickly to the control board and press a button. Immediately, Jesse Manes’ voice resonates in the room.

“Great. Be there as soon as you can, we need to resume the tests as soon as possible.”

“Dad. He is here.” Flint informs their father after he ends the call. The satisfied look on his face can’t be good.

“That’s perfect.” The Master Sergeant Hard-Ass nods and motions them to come closer to the window. With Flint’s grip on his shoulder, Alex has no other choice than to do so. From where he stands now, he has a better view of what is happening.

Max and Isobel are conscious. Max is perfectly still but his eyes are moving, as if he is trying to find a way to get out of here. He only stops a few seconds to glare at Jesse Manes, probably wishing he could kill with a look, before resuming his searching. He doesn’t seem to notice Alex’ presence, even if the table is slightly tilt to face the window. It must be a one-way mirror. In a way, Alex is glad it is. He doesn’t want to face him before finding a way to free him, Isobel, Liz and Maria. On the other hand, Isobel is moving to try and get rid of the restraints. Her wrists are red, ready to bleed. And she is speaking, loudly expressing her great admiration of the Master Sergeant Hard Ass.

“You’re pathetic, you know. I can understand why you are trying so hard to be a hero, a lot of people wants to be one. But you know that creating a false threat and then solving the problem won’t make you a hero. Quite the opposite, actually.” Jesse Manes doesn’t seem to pay her attention so she keeps going, on the same condescending tone. “But yeah, I won’t judge you, you know, if you look up to men like Hitler. A piece of advice, though, real heroes don’t need to try that hard. Look at your son, for example. You aren’t even a tenth of Alex, and that’s is even too nice for you.”

Talking about him seems to do the trick because Jesse Manes quickly turns around to slap her in the face. Behind the glass, Alex can’t help but chuckles as his father loses his composure. Flint just glares at him before focusing on Isobel. The blow doesn’t seem to have disturbed her.

“Or maybe someone dressed as a little green Martian stole your candy when you were a kid and you never recovered from it? That would explain a lot actually, but you should definitely go see a therapist if that’s the case.”

This time, Alex tries – he really does – to not react but his father’s face is priceless. He can’t contain his laugh. Not a lot of people aren’t afraid of Jesse Manes and among them, even fewer are capable of talking to them like Isobel does. Even strapped on a metallic table, in a lab where aliens were tortured to death, Isobel Evans doesn’t let anyone intimidate her.

“Do you think that because a dumb white man is in charge of this country, others dumb white men are allowed to be even dumber?” She pauses for a second, thinking. “Or are you just trying to make your boss feel better about himself?”

Alex is still laughing when his father starts moving. He quickly regains his composure before he enters in the room. Flint nods at him, before stepping a bit back. With the comms still open, they can hear Isobel’s next words.

“Did you brain melt because you spend too much time in a desert and forget to hydrate correctly? You must know that water is a very essential resource for the human body, even I know that.”

Flint press the same button as before, muting Isobel. But she doesn’t know and keeps talking. Alex realises wishes he could read her lips to understand what she is saying. Now that the room is quiet, Jesse Manes turns to his sons.

“Alex. Nice of you to join us.”

Jesse Manes starts to talk, probably gloating about his victory. Alex isn't really paying attention to his speech. He had heard it so many times, he had stopped listening a long time ago. The trick is to stare at the Master Sergeant and nod once in a while to pretend you are agreeing with him. But on the inside, his brain is trying to find a way to save his friends.

With his right hand, he grabs his left thumb. His father is still talking, being once again a cliché of a Disney villain with a long, boring and repetitive monologue. And Flint is somehow drinking his words, a little bit too distracted to notice what Alex is doing this time.

Not wincing while dislocating his thumb is harder than he had anticipated but the two men don't seem to see it. He can now take the handcuff off his left wrist. With his hands free, escaping will be way easier. He just needs to find the right time.

Someone must have been listening to grant his wish because a phone starts ringing. Jesse Manes glances at Flint, mad because of the interruption, but his son just shakes his head. The ringtone stops for a few seconds but before Jesse Manes can resume his monologue, it starts again. Sighing, his father reaches for his pocket, ready to hang up on whoever is calling him. But he seems to change his mind as he picks up and leave the room rapidly. Alex is now alone with his older brother.

Flint stares at him for a couple of seconds before gesturing at something behind Alex.

“Sit.”

Alex glances and sees the chair. Moving slowly, walking backward to avoid showing his wrists to Flint, he makes his way across the room. Sitting feels actually really good, his leg is so sore after wearing the prosthesis for so long. He nods silently to thanks his brother. But Flint is no longer paying attention to him. He has also found a chair to sit and has taken his phone out to occupy himself. He probably thinks Alex won't go far if he tries to escape and, even if Alex hates admitting that, he is probably right.

He might be able to throw a few punches if needed but he won't be able to use his left hand a lot and his leg won't carry him if he tries to run. The first thing to do would be to put his thumb back in place.

Checking that Flint is still not paying him any attention, Alex tries to use the chair he is sitting on to fix his thumb. But it is way harder when you can't see what you are doing. Failing several times makes him sigh. He wasn’t even loud but the silence, it makes his brother raises his head.

“Can you stay put for a sec, Alex?”

He seems a bit annoyed but more at the whole situation - having to watch over his little brother - than at Alex himself.

“We don't all have a phone to not get bored.” He answers, just to annoy Flint. It doesn’t work because his brother just grins.

“Sorry, I hadn't realized I also had to entertain you. But do you really think I’m stupid enough to let you borrow my phone?” He shakes his head. “Besides, it would be difficult to use it like that.” He gestures at him, grin still firmly in place of his face.

Alex has to stop himself from moving. The temptation to show him he has get rid of the cuffs is big. Really big. But now is not the time, so Alex just shrugs. But he won't stay here doing nothing. If he can’t escape now, he will do the next best thing: getting his brother to talk.

“So Flint, you never answered my question. How did you end up in the middle of nowhere, New Mexico?”

“Did it ever occur to you that I might actually want to be here?”

“No, not at all.” Alex lies because he knows for sure one reason that could make his brother want to stay here. That is the exact same reason that brought him back to Roswell in the first place.

“Do you like it there?”

“It could be worse.”

“So you enjoy babysitting for Dad? I’m not a kind anymore, you know that right?”

“Obviously but I won’t let you alone either.”

“Afraid I might slip between your fingers?”

“No, actually.”

Before Alex can asks him why he is so sure about that, Flint nods towards the glass. Sitting on the chair doesn’t allow Alex to see through it but he knows Max and Isobel are still strapped on the table behind it.

“You know, little brother, your compassion has always been your greatest weakness.”

Alex doesn’t reply to that. Not that he doesn’t want to but getting in a verbal fight with Flint isn't a good idea. He needs to be the smartest in the room, right now. But his brother must have notice the way he suddenly tenses because he smirks. If Alex wasn’t supposed to be cuffed, he would have punch him in the face.

“Don’t look at me like that, you know I’m right.”

“So you think it is fun to torture innocent people that…”

“Innocents? Listen to yourself, they are killers, Alex!”

“No, they aren’t! They just happened to crash on the most bigoted planet ever.”

Flint doesn’t retort but his eyes says enough to make Alex sighs. He turns his head violently enough to hear his neck crack when he hears footsteps in the corridor. His brother rises.

“Finally.” He murmurs as he opens the door.

He probably wasn’t expecting someone to punch him in the face, making him stubble back in the room. Alex doesn’t wait any longer. In less than a second, he is standing behind his brother. He takes his gun before Flint reaches for it.

“Hi Alex!” Michael is grinning at him, Kyle behind him. “Miss me?”

“I did. A lot.” He smiles back at the both of them.

Between them, Flint doesn’t move. At all. He could fight back. He is in way better shape than Alex and trained unlike Kyle and Michael. Even if is outnumbered, it would be a fair fight. But he doesn’t do anything. Not even when Michael sees his siblings and rushes in the other room. Not even when Kyle follows him to help free the twins. Not even when he is alone in the room with Alex. He just turns his head to look at him.

“You should be careful, little brother…”

Alex doesn’t let him the time to finish his sentence and knocks him out with the gun, before joking the rest of the group.

In the other room, Isobel and Max are free of their restraints. They must have been drugged because when Isobel tries to stand up her legs don't support her. Without Michael, she would have hit the ground pretty violently.

Kyle finishes checking on them before turning to face Alex.

“How are you?”

“Good.” He answers even if his best friend raises his eyebrows, not convince at all. “But I still need your help with something.”

He raises his left hand. Kyle’s face goes blank for a split second, he sighs and reaches for it.

“What happened?”

“Handcuffs.” Alex shrugs.

“You know handcuffs aren't supposed to dislocate your thumb, don't you?”

From where he is standing, Michael raises his head, ready to come check on Alex himself. But Alex shakes his, Isobel needs him more right now.

“It was to take them off.” He raises his other hand to make his point. Kyle sighs again.

“Sure, that’s the most normal thing to do with handcuffs…”

“Didn’t know you had a kink, Valenti.” Michael interrupts with a large smile on his face. Kyle barely acknowledges him and, without any warning, he puts Alex’ thumb back in place, making him grunt.

“You could have warn me.” He protests when Kyle chuckles at his reaction.

“You could also have wait for someone to take them off for you. Like a normal person.”

Then, they wait for Max and Isobel to be able to walk before heading to the control room where Flint first took Alex.

“Liz and Maria are in a cell.” Alex explains, leading the way. His gun is raised, ready to shoot anyone who come their way. Hopefully for those, they don't meet a single soul. “Last time I saw them, they were fine.”

Once in the room, Alex rushes on the console. The people working here must be the dumbest his father could find. He probably didn’t want anyone to question his orders. Each and every button is labelled so pressing on the one to open all the doors is pretty easy.

Across the room, his backpack hasn't move at all. He hands it to Kyle.

“Grab anything you can, hard drives and files. I’m going to get the girls. I'll be back in a minute and then we leave this place.”

Alex doesn’t wait for an answer and leaves them. A quick look around his shoulder informs him that no one is following him. He lets out the breath he didn’t know he was holding. They doesn’t need to see the numerous rotting bodies in the cells. On his way to Maria and Liz, he notices that those are mostly on the opposite side. With a little luck, they won't notice them.

When he reaches their cells, both girls are waiting. Liz throws herself in his arms with a relieved cry. If it wasn’t for Maria, quick enough to help him keeps his balance, he would have tumble on the concrete floor.

“Come on, we need to go.” He presses when Liz releases him.

“How is Max?”

“He and Isobel are okay. They are waiting for us with Michael and Kyle.”

“Hum… Alex?”

“Yeah?” He turns his head to see Maria pointing at his right hand.

“What it there a cuff on your wrist?”

“Long short story, Flint and my father are here so we need to get the hell out of here.”

“Sounds like a great plan.”

They reach the control room where the rest of the group seem relieve to see them. Max quickly stands to hug Liz. Alex grabs his bag, ready to leave, when he freezes.

“Where is Michael?” His voice comes out a little bit more panicked than he would like.

“He said you called him, just after you left. So he went to join you.” Isobel seems as stressed as him. She was probably expecting him to back right now. “You didn’t see him?”

He shakes his head, fear slowly and steadily making it way in his thoughts. He turns on himself to look through the large window. At first, he doesn’t see him at all and he has to force himself to breath. He doesn’t need to have a panic attack right now. He looks again and sure enough, he notices Michael standing in front of a cell. He is so still, he looks almost invisible. Alex doesn’t remember if he has ever seen him that immobile.

“Right.” Alex’ mind is working as fast as humanly possible to find the safest plan for everyone. “Right. I’m going to get him and you, you need to get out of here.” He raises his hand to stop the protests. “I’ll be fine, don't worry about that. But in the same time, you all need to leave the building as soon as possible.”

Kyle takes the backpack with a nod.

“I’ll see you outside.”

Alex tries to smile to reassure him but he doesn’t feel very successful. He watches them leave the room before heading back to the cell block.

“Michael!” He screams as he walks as fast as he could to join the alien. But he doesn’t react. Whatever is in the cell, he can't seem to be able to look elsewhere.

Alex doesn’t want to stay more than needed here and accelerates. His leg protests but he doesn’t listen. He stops next to Michael. He raises his hand to touch his shoulder but, then, lets it fall back. He doesn’t know in what state of mind he is now, he doesn’t want to trigger him.

“Michael.” He whispers instead. “I’m here.”

He doesn’t move, still starring in front of him, but Alex can feel Michael's hand reaching for his. He gladly intertwines their fingers and squeezes. Then, he follows Michael's gaze.

Like all the other cells, the door is open. But he hasn't stepped inside. Alex takes a closer look. And he sees it. Her. She is lying on a concrete bed. She seems to be peacefully sleeping, a barely visible smile on her thin lips. Her small body is covered by dirty rugs, making her skin really pale in comparison. If he didn’t know better, Alex would have thought she was going to wake up. But her chest is perfectly immobile. She is dead. He squeezes Michael's hand again.

A long minute passes before Michael barely moves. If he wasn’t that close, carefully watching him, Alex might have not notice it. He looks at him taking a deep, shaky breath.

“Alex.”

“I’m here.”

“I think she called me. I don't think it was you, it was her.”

Alex nods. He definitely didn’t call him. But he doesn’t say a word, waiting for Michael to continue.

“I felt her mind reaching for mine while I was following her voice. It lasted a split second and it felt so familiar. And then she was gone.”

Michael turns slowly, facing Alex. He lets go off his hand to squeeze his shoulder. Michael fists his shirt, his hands shaking. He is silently but tears are running freely on his face.

“I knew her, Alex. I knew her. Do you think she was my… my…”

“Your mom?” Alex supplies. The alien nods and Alex pulls him closer, hugging him, trying to comfort him. Michael sobs on his shoulder. He doesn’t make a single noise, like every single child for whom making him noise while crying meant trouble. Alex can feel his jacket wet with tears but he doesn’t care. He just want Michael to feel better as he run his hand on his back.

Anger starts bubbling in his chest. Michael has been looking for his family since he hatched of his pod. First, he took him four years to find Max and Isobel. And after that, he kept searching for others like him. But he couldn't find them. Because for seventy years, the Manes family - his own family - had them locked down in a secret facility. Probably torturing them, doing experiments on them, creating weapons to destroy them. Alex has never hated more his last name than at this moment. He doesn’t want the legacy that comes with it. He doesn’t want to be associated with them. He just wants to burn it to the ground, to turn everything his father has been working on to ashes.

Feeling Michael moving in his arms snaps him out of his thoughts. He releases him from his hug and wipes a last tear on his cheek.

“Do you want to …?”

Alex doesn't even know what he is asking Michael. Giving his mother a proper grave? Burn the place to the ground? Kill Jesse Manes? He could - want to - do all of that. But before he can reiterates his question, a warning message startles both of them.

“Initiating quarantine protocol.”

“Shit.” Alex snaps back to reality. They need to get out of here. “Michael, we can't stay here.”

But Michael doesn’t move. He is still looking at his mom.

“She said one thing when she reaches for my mind.”

Alex wants to scream that it isn't the time. That the quarantine protocol isn't a joke and if they stay here they are dead. But he perfectly knows that Michael won't listening to him if he does so.

“What did she say?”

“That she loved me…” He clenches his fist. “And that she was happy.” He shakes his head, running his fingers through his curls. “She was happy to die because she had met me.”

Alex doesn’t know what to say. He doesn’t know how to comfort someone. Especially in this kind of situation. How do you say you're sorry to your boyfriend when he just found and lost the mother he never knew because your family were keeping her prisoner? You can’t. Alex can’t say anything.

The automatic voice, speaks again. Its messages resonates in the empty building.

“Initiating quarantine protocol. You have one minute to evacuate the premises.”

“We really need to go.”

Michael still doesn’t listen to him. Alex wants to shake him, make him leave. He can’t let him die. Not after what his family did to his. The alien looks around him.

“They were my family, Alex. And now, they are all dead… Why?” His voice breaks, tears starting to roll again on his cheeks. “They didn’t deserve to be treated like that.”

Michael falls on the floor. His knees hit the concrete, his face falling between his hands. Alex doesn’t want to stay here. But he can’t leave Michael. He can’t imagine his life without him. Everything before their meeting seems so dull. He wants to build a future with him. He loves him.

The realisation makes him falls besides him. He pulls him for another hug. He can hear Michael repeating the word ‘family’ again and again.

Around him, the beeping accelerates. They doesn’t have any more time.

“They were my family.” Michael says again.

“And you are mine.” Alex answers in a whisper.

And the world goes blank as the building explodes.

 

The last time, Alex was in an explosion, he lost his leg. It hurts like hell. But now, he can’t feel anything apart from Michael’s hands gripping his shoulder. His own arms around the alien’s warm body. Everything around him is chaos but he is somehow in a bubble of quiet. He didn’t know dying was so peaceful. And then the bubble breaks.

He coughs, suddenly surrounding by a huge cloud of dust. He can smells something burning. Under him, his leg hurts, bent in a bad position. Michael is still here, against him. He takes a deep breath, his lungs and his eyes burning. He is alive, he realizes slowly. Michael manages to shield them from the explosion. Around them, Caulfield has disappeared. They are in the middle of fuming ruins. The whole building has been levelled. But they had make it alive.

“Thank you.” He whispers.

He can feel Michael nods before releasing his grip. Alex tries to get up but when he put some weight, he winces and falls back. The alien get back on his feet before helping Alex.

Leaning against each other, they start making their way in the rubble of the destroyed building. They walk slowly, trying to figure the safest, easiest and quickest way out.

They have to stop several times. Because their legs can’t carry them anymore. Because Alex’ bad leg make him trip over every little rock. Because Michael needs to puke. Every time, getting up gets harder.

Alex wishes he has a bottle of acetone in his pockets. He brought some, he knows it, just to be sure. But they are in his backpack. With Kyle.

He really hopes the rest of their little group is safe. That they managed to get out of the building before the explosion. Michael hasn’t said anything about his siblings. He would have felt them if something bad – really bad – had happened, wouldn’t he?

His leg almost makes him trip again. Without Michael, he would have hit the group. Walking is becoming harder with every step. But they don’t stop. They can’t stop. Alex doesn’t even really know where they are in the building or in which direction they should go. Smoke is surrounding them, burning their eyes, making it impossible to see clearly.

Michael falls on his again, once again. He crouches next to him, rubbing his back while he throws up. They are too tired to get up immediately after.

Alex doesn’t know how long they stay like that, holding each other. But then, a sound, a voice, makes him raise his head. Someone is screaming his name. Their names. Several people are calling for Michael and him. Alex wants to speak, to guide them. But he can’t, his throat hurts too much because of all the dust he has been inhaling.

In his arm, Michael moves, tries to get up. And freezes.

It takes a moment for Alex to register that they are not alone anymore.

From the corner of his eye, he can see the barrel of a gun pressing on Michael’s forehead. He tries to move, to help him but the safety clicks.

“Don’t move.” A cold, icy voice instructs.

And Alex also freezes.

The Master Sergeant have found them. They are too exhausted to fight back, none of them can even stand up for more than a few minutes.

Alex realizes that they have lost. He has lost again his father, once again, and that he might not come back from this confrontation.

He sees a group of people approaching. For a minute, he thinks that his friends are here to save him. But once they are closer, he realizes he was wrong. They are all wearing the same black outfit. Their faces are hidden behind black masks. Even their eyes are invisible. Each one is carrying a machine gun and they carefully form a circle around the three of them, weapons raised.

Jesse Manes doesn’t lower his gun, barely glancing at them.

“Up.” He orders at the two men on the ground. When Alex doesn’t move, he presses his gun harder on Michael’s forehead, the finger dangerously approaching the trigger. “Now or I blow his brain.”

It takes more time than Alex wishes but he finally stands.

“Did you really think you could defeat me?” His father asks, smiling widely. His gun is still pointing at Michael’s face but at least if he decides to shoot, Alex can react more easily.

“Where there’s life, there’s hope.” Alex shrugs. He might have lost but being sarcastic is the only thing he has left.

“I’m glad you’re finding this situation so funny, son.” He turns to the soldiers. “Get them.”

But none of them moves. They barely acknowledge his words.

There is one thing that Jesse Manes really hates – beside his last son. When people don’t listen to his orders.

“Get them. Now.” He tries again. No reaction.

Then two of them moves and Alex can see a glimmer of hope in his father’s eyes. But they just let Flint in the middle of the circle before taking back their previous position.

Anger is written all over the Master Sergeant’s face. Alex can almost see smoke coming out of his ears.

Flint raises his hand and the soldiers around them lower their weapon. Then he turns to greet their father.

“Hi Dad.”

“Flint. We need to move them.” His son barely acknowledges him. “I don’t know what you think you are doing but I warn you, disobey again and …”

He lets the threat lies. Alex snorts. His father glares at him but he doesn’t care. Seeing him losing his composure because one of his perfect sons isn’t listening to his orders is priceless. He is still trying to get Flint do his bidding when Flint, bored, raises his hand to cut him. But Jesse Manes isn’t used to be stopped while he is talking so he doesn’t react.

“Master Sergeant!” Flint finally snaps.

Their father looks at him, probably shocked by this but he doesn’t say a word nor move.

“Right.” Alex watches his brother coughing and taking a deep breath. “Can you put the gun down, sir?”

“Have you forgotten everything I taught you?” Flint doesn’t move. “He is a threat for our great nation. Do you know how dangerous it is to be unarmed next to this thing?”

When he was growing up, Alex remembers that his father wasn’t a talkative person. He would stare silently before snapping. The less he talked, the more they had to be careful. Jesse Manes is a man who believe that words are a waste of time. When he gives orders, they are sharp and precise.

But today, in this particular situation, the Master Sergeant is talkative. It can only means one thing. He knows he had lost the upper hand. He is trying to stall, to distract Flint before making a move.

But his brother isn’t having any of this.

He raises a hand and two of the soldiers around them makes their way to the Master Sergeant. In the matter of a couple of seconds, he is brought to his knees and his gun is taking away from him. Before he can protest or ask questions, Flint hands him a letter.

From where he is, Alex can’t see what is written on it. But it clearly isn’t a good news, if his father’s expression is any indication. When he is done reading, Jesse Manes throws the letter, anger clearly written on his face. He tries to move, but the soldiers press on his shoulder, effectively keeping him on the ground.

“Take him away.”

Alex reacts immediately, ready to protect Michael, but he doesn’t have too. The order wasn’t about them. He can just watch as they haul Jesse Manes away. Once he is out of sight, Flint turns to him.

“Hey, little brother. We have a lot to talk about.”

“Sure, we do.” Alex answers. He doesn’t completely understand what happened. And until he does, he sure won’t trust his brother.

“I know.” He sighs as he picks up the letter on the ground. “But first, I think we all deserve a break.” He yawns. “And a nap.”

With Michael helps, Alex manages to get back to their cars. Flint has left them, with the promise to speak later. Alex doesn’t really like to let him go with so many information on the aliens but he is too exhausted to protest.

Next to the two vehicles, the rest of their group is waiting for them. He can see the concern on their face when they rushed to greet them. Apparently, Flint had come to them, telling them to stay put while he was dealing with Jesse Manes. Like him, they have a thousand questions. But his brother is right. He needs a nap.


	10. Happy Beginning

It takes a couple of days to get rid of the exhaustion after Caulfield. Alex can’t wear his prosthesis, his stump to sore after the events in the abandoned prison. Kyle makes a few comments about that but he doesn’t bring the subject back after Alex promises him to not wear it.

After all, he doesn’t really need it if he just stays in the cabin with Michael. Their friends come by once to check on them but otherwise, they are pretty much all by themselves.

 

The call comes while Michael is making breakfast, almost a week later. Alex doesn’t recognize the caller ID but something tells him to pick up.

“Alex?” A voice is recognized to be his brother asks.

“We really need to talk, Flint.”

“I know, that why I’m calling. Can I come by later?”

“Sure.”

“Great. I’ll be there in 90 minutes.”

Alex hangs up after that. When he turns, Michael is looking at him.

“Your brother?”

“Yeah.” He sighs. “He wants to talk. We should let the others knows, if they want to join.”

A text on their group chat does the trick. Not long after, Michael, Max, Isobel, Liz, Maria, Cam and Kyle are sitting in the cabin, idly chatting about the latest gossips of the town. Apparently, the bridge club of Roswell is divided in two after someone throws a party the same evening as the charity bake sale of someone else. Alex is just happy to listen to them.

A knock on the door makes them all stop. Alex is ready to get up but Michael just opens it with his mind. Flint Manes makes this way in the living room, assessing the situation.

“I wasn’t expecting so many people.” He sits on the empty chair left for him. “But I guess Alex isn’t the only one with questions.”

“Then, you better start talking, Manes.” Isobel nods.

“Of course.”

“I was approached by the head of Project Shepherd a couple of years back,” Flint starts slowly. “They were saying that they were investigating Dad, because he was still running an operation he was told to shut years ago. In 2010, they didn’t shut Project Shepherd. Instead of hunting aliens to protect humanity, its purpose was now to protect aliens from being discovered and help them integrate the society. They would still look out for rogue ones, but aliens weren’t automatically considered as a threat after that. I didn’t believe them, aliens were a just a myth, especially when you have grown up in Roswell. And I thought, I knew Dad, that he loves rules too much to break them. I forgot all about that, then Dad kind of recruits me to work for him in Project Shepherd. You know how he can be.”

Alex nods, knowing that his brother was talking to him.

“But you are still in the military, right? I didn’t find anything about a discharge or the end of your enlistment.”

“I am. Project Shepherd isn’t really supposed to exist, so they usually hire people in the military like me or someone freshly discharged like you. That way, they can easily covert the paper trail.”

Alex knows a little bit about that. It has been briefly explains to him when he has been ask to work for them. On the paper, he was simply a consultant for the Air Force.

“Anyway, I started to work for him. At first, it wasn’t alarming. Until he asks me to be in charge of a team building a smart bomb.”

“How did he explain that to you?”

“That is was just in case of emergency. I didn’t really question it but then, he brought me to Caulfield…”

“So you didn’t believe he was dangerous until you realize he was keeping a hundred of aliens imprisoned illegally? You really are dumb.” Isobel chimes in.

“I grew up with him, I already knew he wasn’t a good man -” Alex rolls his eyes at that “- but you of all people should know about not wanting to believe that someone who is supposed to love you is actually a real menace.”

Isobel is about to snap but Alex raises his hand to stop her. He doesn’t need a fight right now.

“Go on, please.”

“At that moment, when I realized what was really happening, I contacted the head of Project Shepherd to tell them I agreed with him and that Dad needed to be stopped. Since then, I has been working undercover to collect data on him.”

“So you just stayed with him, helping him building a bomb but did do anything else.”

“There wasn’t a lot I could do. I purposely messed up some tests on the bomb to make sure it wasn’t going to be used anytime soon but some of the scientists working with him agreed with him. For them, making this weapon was a question of national security. And I managed to help a few aliens escape.”

“Really?”

“Not much, they were heavily guarded but yeah, a few. The younger ones principally.” He turns to Michael. “Nora helped.”

“Nora?”

“Your mum.”

“So she was my mom. And now she is dead and I…”

“If that can make you feel better, she didn’t died during the tests. I think she was just too tired to keep fighting so she just…”

“Right, of course, that makes me feel better.” Michael’s voice is loaded with sarcasm. “I thought for years I had no relatives, that I was alone. Then I learned I have a mom, a few miles away from where I lived, but she was dead before I even had the chance to meet her. But, yeah, she died peacefully after over seventy years of torture so I should be grateful.”

Alex sighs. He had tried to convince his friends that the easiest way to do that was to let him have a conversation with Flint, alone, before reporting to them what they needed to know. But of course, they were stubborn. Now, he has two aliens angry towards Flint and still a thousand questions without answers.

“Alright, that enough. Everybody takes five.” Everybody turns to look at him. “Out, now.” He can tell that they want to protest but he silences them with a glare. “Even you, Guerin.”

Once they are alone, Alex turns to Flint who is still sitting on his chair.

“Now, you are going to tell me everything about his involvement in this before I let them in again. You better be quick because they aren’t patient and some of them were ready to melt your brain.”

“What do you want to know?” Flint asks but continues after a glare. “Right, Caulfield. I’m sorry for how I treated you there, but I had to keep the appearances. He is usually always keeping an eyes on the place, with the surveillance feed, and I couldn’t let him think I wasn’t on his side. To be honest, I always knew that you would find about the place since you were back to Roswell. It was only a matter of time. I wasn’t expected you that soon and I really thought you would be alone. That you brought your friends was the wild card. Dad was already on his way when you arrived in the facility, for his monthly visit, you didn’t picked the right day. We didn’t really have make any progress with the bomb, so he was in a bad mood when you say him. Then, you escaped with your friends and he just snaps. He thought that if he couldn’t have new test subjects, he would just blow up the building.”

“What did it mean for your undercover work?”

“We had to accelerate things. The file against Dad was nearly finished, arresting him was the only step left. But you being here throw us off, we thought we still had a least a week. If he had managed to kill all of you, he would have disappear in the wild. We couldn’t let that happens. I was alerting them when I was watching you.”

“If they were so sure that he was a threat, what didn’t they make a move against him before?”

“Keeping Dad was necessary, for some legacy bullshit. But it would have possible if they had catch up on what he was doing earlier. But with our current government, things changed and they had to build a real case to fire him.”

“Right.”

Alex asks a few more questions to Flint about Project Shepherd before he lets the rest of the group come back inside. Once his brother has started to answer Isobel and Michael’s questions – Max is mostly quiet, just asking for a precision every now and then, he retreats in the kitchen.

Leaning against the counter, he lets out the breath he didn’t know he was holding, trying to process everything he just learns.

“You okay?”

Alex raises his head to find Kyle watching him quietly. He nods.

“What are you doing here?”

“I needed some space to think about all of this.”

“Yeah.” Kyle sighs. “That’s a lot.”

“What are they talking about now?”

“Hum… When I left, it was about the protection offered by Project Shepherd to aliens. And about the others Antarians. I think they are already planning a road trip to visit their camp.”

Kyle and Alex stay in the kitchen until Flint leaves. He assures them that if they have any more questions, he will happily provided answers. After that, they all leave to get lunch at the Crashdown. No one is in a mood to cook.

 

It takes another week before Alex gets a call, asking him to testify against his father. He quickly accepts, willing to put the man behind bars as fast as he can. On the day of the trial, he refuses to let anyone come with him. Even if they protest, he doesn’t change his mind. His father was his war and he needs to win. And that’s a battle he needs to fight alone.

That night, when he is lying in bed, Michael’s head on his chest and mindlessly petting his hair, Alex realises that he is at peace. He hasn’t felt like that for a very long. He doesn’t even know if he has felt that way.

“You know, I never thought I would ever that. A house. A home, even. Close friends. A boyfriend. I’m happy.”

“Yeah?” Michael raises his head, smiling. “I’m happy too.”

Alex smiles back while his boyfriend moves to kiss him.

“For once, I don’t want to run away.”

“Then stay.” He says that as if it is the simplest thing in world. Alex realises now that, in fact, it is. There is no one telling what he can or can’t do now. He is free.

“Yeah, I can do that. I hum… quit my job today.”

“You did?”

“Yeah, I just need to go back in DC for a few days to take all my stuff back. But after that, I’m staying here. For good.”

Michael doesn’t answer but kisses him instead. Alex melts in it and almost whines when the alien pulls back, looking at him.

“I love you.”

“I love you too.”

Michael kisses him again, more fiercely this time.

There is still a lot he needs to figure out, but he doesn’t need to rush. His father can’t do anything now. His family is safe. He has all the time in the world now.


End file.
